What the Tide Brings In
by gooberbot
Summary: CHAPTER 8 IS UP! What do you get when you have a love conspiring Serena, a chance to become Jimmy again, and a beach spring break vacation? A perfect date, three curious kids, and some no good twists of fate in store for Jimmy & Conan, detective.
1. A Suprise for Conan

_What the Tide Brings In_

By strawbeby 

"Dad, Where are my sunglasses?!" Rachel Moore yelled from behind her closed bedroom door. Conan had asked to borrow them for him on a recent assignment to help solve it. The case had dealt with lasers and eyes or something like that (a lot of technical stuff that was way beyond not only her own knowledge, but also college level knowledge) and her father had had them when he solved it. And she needed them back. 

Richard Moore rose his head from the TVs glare then said with a waver in his voice, "The little pink bunny stole them from me because he needed to ride his bicycle to the moon to get some milk." Then he gave a large and repulsive belch, pointed in the way of Conan's room, and then returned his full attention to the glowing screen, which was showing a headache commercial. Rachel noticed the large number of recently emptied beer cans on the coffee table in front of him. 

_That was stupid, thinking I could get an intelligent response of out dad. But just in case I'll check with Conan_. Rachel knocked softly on his closed door and asked "Conan? Are you in there?" 

The little boy who looked the age of seven sat up, after being hunched over his bow tie. He quickly shoved the bow tie that concealed a voice immolator away under some sheets that he slept on. Then he stood up to quickly open the door. 

Conan Edogawa stood before her with his hair and clothes slightly ruffled. He was always a great comfort to Rachel, especially when she felt particularly lonely for Jimmy Kudo. Conan always knew just what to say to her, like he could read her mind. But at the moment he just looked like any other seven-year-old, with the exception of his school uniform and unusually large glasses. 

"Have you seen my sunglasses?" Rachel asked. 

Conan thought for a moment, then replied, "Yeah, I have them. Richard almost sat on them when he sat on the couch." _Actually I just forgot to return them when I borrowed them to solve the case. But that's my little secret._ "They're in my bag. Hold on a sec' please." He got up and retrieved them from their hiding place in his bag and gave them back to Rachel. "Here 'ya go. Why do you need them anyway?" 

"I'm leaving tomorrow for my school's spring break trip. A whole week of sun, sand, and relaxation. I'm leaving you boys alone around a stove, but I really need this break. We've been swamped with work lately," Rachel replied 

_Oh yeah. That stupid trip. They give it every year for honor roll students, but it always somehow gets rigged so that anyone who wants to can go. There's usually a lot of hooking up going on because on the last night there's a stupid ball/dance thing..._ Conan started to pout over the trip's stupidity (actually he was just jealous, wanting to go and be with Rachel as Jimmy) when he realized that the girl was still in the same room. So he put on a wide grin and said, "Sounds like tons of fun! Can I go, too?" 

Rachel grinned and said, "No, Conan. It's only for high schoolers. Maybe in a few years you'll be allowed to go. But for right now, stay seven-years-old and let me finish packing in peace." Then she turned around and went to the door to leave. 

Conan's face fell but then gave himself an idea. "Okay, Rachel. Then can I go to Dr. Agasa's in a couple of minutes? He said he's got a surprise for me." 

Rachel looked back and smiled and the excited looking child before her. "No problem, Conan." And with that Rachel left the room and closed the door behind her. 

_Perfect. I'll just ask if I can spend the weekend with the Doc and sneak into Serena's car when she comes to pick Rachel up. It's a two-hour drive, so nobody will want to come pick me up or take me back. Then I can just ward off any drooling animals that come Rachel's way. I mean someone has to be there to help her. And what am I to do? Trust Serena? Ha! _Conan sat back down and took his bow tie back out. It had broken during the last case (a real hooter. Inspector Megure thought that Richard had inhaled some helium) but this time he wanted to see if he could fix it himself. He corrected what he thought was the last wire then headed over to Dr. Agasa's to ask the Doc if he fixed it right. He wasn't about to test it himself and have it blown up in his face like many of the Doctor's experiments. 

Irony was on Conan's side when he arrived at Dr. Agasa's house, because it turned out that Dr. Agasa really did have a suprise for him. He tried to look like himself and not excited when Conan first arrived, but the Doc is a terrible actor so Conan knew that there had to be something going on. 

Finally, Conan couldn't take it anymore, and he shouted, "O.k. Doc! There's something going on here! Now out with it and tell me what it is!" 

Dr. Agasa giggled slightly and said (in his own heavy European accent), "Well, Jimmy, I have good news and bad news." He chose this time to inhale deeply to torture Conan a bit longer. "The good news is that I have found a way to return you to your body." Dr. Agasa, pleased that he let his secret out finally, started grinning like mad, because he knew how badly Conan wanted to return to his own body, speak in his own voice, be believed, look his age, and tell Rachel how he really feels in his own true self. 

Conan froze with disbelief. _Be in my own body? No acting like a kid necessary? No more bumbling Richard to lead me on cases? No more talking through that stupid voice immolator just to have a conversation with Rachel in his own voice? But what about... _"Wait... the bad news. The catch. What's the catch, Doc?" Conan asked 

"It's temporary in most cases. In cases 1 out of 1000 the blood's transformation stayed permanent. But in most cases it usually lasts a week or 2 then you'll return to being a kid again. And it can only be used once. If it's used anymore, then my tests on your blood have shown that it will, bluntly speaking, speed the cells up and explode." 

By the end of the explanation Conan's head was spinning. _Blow up? I won't know exactly when I'll shrink back? When would I use it? I just need some time to think._ "Dr. Agasa, do you mind if I think about it for a while?" 

Dr. Agasa's face changed from the giddy look to a look of concernment then he said, "No problem, Jimmy. Just call me up when you make your decision. But he wasn't sure if Conan had heard all of it though, because Conan was already halfway out of the door. 

Just as Conan was arriving back at the Moore residence, he heard the telephone ring. He ran to pick it up. "Moore Detective Agency," he answered. 

"Conan? This is Serena. Is Rachel there?" the voice on the other side of the connection said. 

"Sure. Let me get her," Conan replied. He handed the phone to Rachel (who was right next to him, after running to get the phone) then he crept into the other room and slowly picked up the extension of the phone line. _When Serena calls, it is always something worth listening in on, though I do sometimes get caught and Rachel has to punishes me. But it's what any good friend would do._

When he picked the extension up, the girls were already busy talking about the beach trip. 

"Well, I heard that that new foreign exchange student is going to be there.," Serena said. "And I heard that he is cute. And courteous. And he volunteers. And he's foreign. And he's buff." 

"Serena, you know that I don't really care about a guys looks. I mean, what if he personality stinks? No hobbies? No wit? No charm? No way!" Rachel said. Conan secretly smiled at this perfect description of himself. _Except that she doesn't care about my looks. Excuse me but I'm hot. When I'm seventeen I mean. _(Mr. modest!) 

"Hello?! Rach, did you not here me say that he volunteers? And I heard from someone who is close to him that he loves little kids, he totally recycles and all that junk, and anyone who comes in contact with him ends up having a WAY better day from laughing so much." Serena sounded so smug, having this very important, very inside information. 

"He does sound pretty nice," Rachel said. "But why are you telling me?" 

"Another thing that I heard: He's seen a picture of you and he's heard all about you and now he's totally into you! Probably because all I ever say about you is good, you goody-two-shoes!" Serena giddily said. Conan didn't like the direction that this conversation was heading. _I mean who wouldn't love Rachel? She's beautiful and smart and can whip your butt any day of the month. But this Mr. Perfect-exchange-student guy seems too good to be true. And why doesn't Serena want him if he's so fabulous?_

"I don't know," Rachel said. "I haven't even met the guy and he's already into me? Sounds kind of creepy. _That's my girl, Rach!_

"Aw, come on," Serena whined. "You're still hung up on that stupid Jimmy Kudo, aren't you? He seldom calls you from that oh-so-important case that he works on and when he does it's only for like 2 minutes and you always practically memorize it and then you recite it back to me. Face it, Rach. He skipped town. He's a jerk. A no-show loser, who flirted with you maybe but didn't want to back it up. So he up and left, probably to find another girl, leaving you to kiss the dust." Conan boiled with anger at this girl who was messing up his good name just to get Rachel to go out with another guy. If he was only in the same room with her she'd get a mouth full of strength stimulizer tennis shoe. But he held his tongue so he wouldn't get caught eavesdropping and so he could get some more information on this Ryan dude. "And," Serena continued. "Ryan's not some crazed stalker. He just says that you have a look of a model. And that you have blue diamond eyes." 

"Really?" Rachel said sarcastically. "And how do you know so much about him?" 

"Well, he's kind of a distant cousin of mine, and he's kind of living here at the moment." Conan could practically hear the grin that fell on her face when she revealed this very important fact. And now he knew why Serena wasn't furious that this Mr. Perfect liked Rachel and not her. 

"SERENA!" Rachel exclaimed. "Why are you choosing now to tell me this?!" 

"Because if you had known right off the bat that he was a wealthy heir to an oil well company then you would've taken an immediate disliking to him. Come on, Rach. I mean, how bad can he be? I'm really not lying. He's just your type. Nice." Serena told her friend. _No _Conan thought. _Her type is Jimmy. Jimmy Kudo, world famous 17 year old detective, childhood best friend of hers, and the only guy she's ever going to like is her type to be exact._

"I guess he can't be all that bad. I'll meet him. Even if it is just for you," Rachel said. _Hello? What about me? Jimmy? The one you are supposed to be in love with! Don't give up Rach!_

"Fabulous! You'll love him! Trust me!" Serena said. _Sounds like a dangerous idea to me._ The girls then started talking about the clothing that they were going to wear, the shoes that they were going to bring, the fact that Richard actually let Rachel buy a bikini (it was revealing but not that revealing, like some that were made only to fit the need of a person who doesn't want to wear one at all), and all other things that Conan was just not interested in. Deciding that he wasn't going to get anything else worth listening to in this "Chic talk", he set the reciever slowly down and walked back to his room to ponder his decision. 

As he collapsed on the floor he began to think of his choices. The obvious one that was hopping like a rabid pink elephant in front of him would be to use the antidote now. Go to the beach for a week, be with Rachel, and then return to being Conan for who knows how long. He wasn't really worried about Mr. Perfect. Rachel sounded like she said that just to please Serena. But he could really make Rachel fall in love with him, being so perfect and all....Okay so it did worry him a bit. But it wasn't only him. It was all of those other raging balls of hormones that call themselves teenage boys. Rachel went to school with them but it isn't the same sitting next to a person in algebra compared with sitting next to the same person while watching a gorgeous sunset. Or when they are wearing a tiny, form-fitting bikini... And Rachel hasn't seen him for, what? 6 months. That's a long time. But still. He didn't know when he'd catch those men in black. It might take years. And what if a situation popped up that was absolutely necessary that he is Jimmy and not Conan. He didn't know what Rachel would think of him having to "disappear" again, maybe being even more ticked at him than she was to begin with (what the heck went through her mind she didn't know. She might even be thinking that he ran off to join the circus, for all he knew about how girls thought he's only tried that once and that was when he was really six. She even went with him until they discovered that they couldn't join the circus without crossing the street, something they were not allowed to do without an adult or their babysitter). Anyway...back to the real topic. 

Another choice was to save the antidote until later when he really needed it. A situation could pop up, for example Rachel committing suicide (or more likely threaten to kill Dr. Agasa for Jimmy's whereabouts) or if Inspector Megure thought that he was dead and didn't believe that the phone calls were real. Situations that would really need Jimmy to be in his own body. The downside would be the when faction. What would decide for him to use it? He could end up using it at one time then have it end up as not the right time at all, instead needing to use it more in the future. And he couldn't use it again could he? It sounded really painful to die that way. Imagine your blood cells just rushing around and then exploding because you were injected with something that's actually really toxic. Or he could wait too long and not get the chance to use it until he caught the men in black. 

Then there was another choice that didn't really appeal to Conan, but he had to accept it as a fact and consider it alongside of the others. He could never take the antidote. What if the Doc's calculations are wrong and instead of when he used the antidote the second time, the first time that he used it it would make his blood cells explode. Or what if the antidote messes up the original poison and when he really does catches the men in black and retrieves the poison, the antidote that will be especially made to fit that poison won't work as well or even at all. The antidote that the Doc is offering now could completely alter the chemical formula of the toxin injected in him, and then he would never return to his original body. The downside of avoiding the Doc's antidote altogether was obvious though. He could almost guarantee that he would lose Rachel. She was losing hope as it was, even with Jimmy's phone calls, and brief "appearances". Even if he got a hold of the poison today, there's no way he'd get the antidote in less than 3 months, and Conan had a feeling that this will take a long time to catch those men in black. Rachel will have given up by then, or Conan would be fiercely miserable because he knew that the reason she refused to give up and be happy for the moment was all his fault. But this would happen eventually no matter which road he took. The others might give him some more time, but not much. 

After a few hours trying to corner even the tiny possibilities (he had even thought about asking the doc to shrink Rachel instead and "not be able to find the antidote" but as soon as he thought it he nixed it then scolded himself about being so selfish) he realized that supper time had come and went and his stomach was not happy. So he went into the kitchen to fix himself a snack (maybe Rachel still kept some vanilla ice cream and he could make a sundae for himself). But on his way to the kitchen, when he was still going over the hard decision, he heard a sniffle come out of a room. To be more exact, Rachel's room. 

Conan backed up and peered inside. What he saw could make even a military veteran cry (or at least that's what he thought). Rachel was kneeling next to her bed, with her elbows on top of it, and her head laying in her hands. Clearly she was crying over something she really cared about. The room was silent, except for Rachel's soft sobs, for about a minute when she started talking, startling Conan. 

"Jimmy, where are you? Are you dead, lying in a trashcan or a ditch somewhere? No, not you. You're too smart to land yourself dead. Then you're on that same stupid case aren't you? Why can't you see me? Why can't I see you? Am I just not that important to you? Are you purposefully trying to hurt me? Well, guess what, Mr. Know-it-all? It does hurt! You are avoiding me, and I feel like you left me for the trash man, like yesterday's news. But guess what else? I love you Jimmy Kudo! But I'm letting go. Go be a jerk with your fans! I don't care! Play these stupid games with me? Fine! Just don't expect me to come running when you come back though!" She ended on an especially lout burst of sobs and Conan decided to just let her, because he now knew that he had something important to do. 

Conan walked to the nearest phone extension, the one that Rachel had used just that afternoon in fact. He picked up the receiver, listened to the ring tone, dialed the number that he was calling, then listened to it ring a couple of times. 

Dr. Agasa answered it, "Hello?" 

"Doc," Conan replied. "It's me. Listen, how soon can you have it ready?" 


	2. The Edogawa Maximizer 2000

Thank you all who read my last chapter (though in my opinion it is probably going to be one of the dullest). I just want to comment also that Ai, Harley/Heiji, those other inspector dudes and dudettes you all seem to love, and anyone else who is in the later episodes that you love such as Kid, they are not going to be in here. I only have what is shown in the states and I don't know what their personalities are like, so I will not do anything to damage their personalities by leaving them out. O.K. now on with the good stuff.

What the Tide Brings In - Chapter 2 

By strawbeby

About an hour after calling Dr. Agasa to let him know that he was going to use the antidote, Conan was watching TV. Rachel came out of her room and sat gently down next to him.

"How are you feeling?" Conan asked.

"I'm doing okay. I'm just a little down in the dumps right now. Wait a second... Why did you think that there is something the matter with me?" Rachel asked. _He always knows...that's just something that's really weird to me. Even if I know that I look the same, he still knows when I miss Jimmy the most. It's like he can read my mind._

"Well," Conan replied. "You've been in your room for a while. You were probably taking a nap and you usually only take naps when you are not feeling well."

Rachel chuckled inside at herself for thinking something so silly, reading minds. _He just has an unusual way of looking at things, by observation and then deducing. It reminds me a bit of Jimmy..._ "Yeah, I'm feeling better. Thanks for asking. So, what was that surprise that Dr. Agasa had for you?" she asked, remembering Conan's earlier trip to the Doc's.

"He's taking me camping, tomorrow, Rach! For a whole week, I think, too! He's not really sure when we'll get back either, it'll be so far in the woods. But it'll be fun out of the wilderness, making a fire, and setting up a tent! Lots of adventures, too!" Conan had already thought of the explanation earlier, but just the same he tried to flair up his usual enthusiasm by thinking of what he was really going to do.

"Well, it sounds like you're going to have a really great time Conan," Rachel said. "And that also means that the house will be empty all week. The people that Dad had solved the case for this afternoon had called while you were gone and invited him to spend a week at their spa. Yeah, it turns out that they are millionaires. Isn't that really neat? We were even already going to ask Dr. Agasa to look after you this week."

"A spa? Aw, that sounds like no fun," Conan said. "Sitting around in a bath all day? No way! Give me dirt, hiking and the Doc said if I was really good then one night he's gonna tell a whole bunch of ghost stories. In fact..." Conan pretended to glance at his watch to check the time. "I need to go over to Dr. Agasa's right not to ask him what I need to bring. Maybe we'll even sleep in sleeping bags!" Conan hopped off the couch and headed towards the door.

"Okay," Rachel said. "Just be back soon. It's almost bed time!" She had to yell that last part because he hadn't stopped to listen to her and had slammed the door shut.

Conan ran as fast as he could to the Doc's house so he wouldn't lose any time at all in becoming Jimmy. Then as he ran up the stairs he suddenly realized what Rachel had said. _Darn it! I can't use the antidote tonight! Rach's expecting Conan back home soon and even if he calls she'll wonder why he didn't come back to say goodbye or even pack. I better go in anyway, though, because when I had called, Doc had said that he wanted me to come over tonight._ So he stepped up to the front door of Dr. Agasa's house and gave 3 firm knocks.

Dr. Agasa opened the door, looked down, smiled, then said, "Hello, Jimmy Are you ready to return to your body for a week?"

Conan, with an annoyed look on his face, went, "No. I just realized Rachel trapped me in by expecting me, Conan, to come home for bed tonight. Just when I can give her Jimmy, she calls Conan back."

Dr. Agasa's face fell slightly but with a bright face he said, "Don't worry Jimmy. We can always do it bright and early tomorrow morning. In the meantime, why don't I show you it?" He ushered Conan inside, with the air of someone showing off his or her new baby, then began to walk down a hallway, obviously wanting Conan to follow.

Conan did follow, and when he caught up with Dr. Agasa he said, "Dr. Agasa, what's so interesting about the antidote? Isn't it just some pills or syrup that I can take?"

"Oh, no!" Dr. Agasa replied like Conan was calling something beautiful, ordinary. "Technically it's not even an antidote. It's an ager. You'll see." Conan's head swam with the ideas of what an ager could possibly be when Dr. Agasa opened a door to one of his many laboratories. And in the middle of it was a giant laser/gun-looking thing. It was pointing inside of this glass box that looked big enough to fit a person maybe two. Inside of the box there was a little metal stool, and to get inside and out it looked like a whole wall of it was made into a door. The door was shut, and you could barely notice it period, the thing looked so secure.

"This," the Doc proudly said. "Is the Edogawa maximizer 2000. Fitting name isn't it? What happens is you will step inside of the glass room made especially for this and the door will close, securing any and all open places. Then I will fire up the machine and within a minute the maximizer will shoot it's lazer beam through the projector," he pointed to the end that the lazer was pointing to and Conan noticed that it did look like someone had cut that edge off. "And the beams will shoot throughout the glass room and bounce off the walls, like reflecting. Then, after shooting you about 5000 times it will shoot back through the projector and evaporate." Dr. Agasa, finished explaining the genius ways of his latest invention, looked very proud of himself for creating something this scientific and marvelous.

Conan on the other hand looked scared out of his mind. "Uh, Doc? It shoots me 5000 times? Um, wouldn't I be dead then?"

"Oh, no, Jimmy!" Dr. Agasa quickly replied. "The shooting will just cause a light tingling sensation as the lazer speeds up your blood cells and ages them 10 years. Then within the hour you would have an immediate change from child to teenager. This should be painless and it should have no warning signs. You will feel your limbs growing very quickly, though."

Conan was very pleased with the fact that it would be painless. When he had been transformed the first time into a child, it was a very painful experience. He hated to think of going through the pain of thinking that you are dying again.

"But there is a downside, Jimmy," Dr. Agasa continued. "Well not really a downside. Just two very important things that you need to know. The first is that the door has to be tightly sealed. If not then anything and everything in the room will age 10 years along with you. And I would love to keep my things in there like new, Jimmy. The other thing is about when you shrink back. Yes, even though there is the slimmest of slim chance you might stay in your own body, most likely you will shrink back. The least amount of time is a week. The most amount of time that there is excluding never shrinking back is about 2 ½ weeks. The thing you really have to remember though Jimmy, is that you have to stay out of sight during that time. Because at any moment you could shrink back without warning, because your shrinking will be just like your growing. If you don't keep out of sight then you could be just walking down the street then bing-bang-boom! You're Conan again. And who knows has seed you change from Jimmy to Conan. So I would recommend staying here until that happens."

Conan nodded, meaning that he understood what the Doc was saying. Still in a bit of a daze, because of all of this important information that he had to know, he checked his watch then said, "Well it's about time for me to be heading home, Dr. Agasa. Is there anything else that I need to know?"

Doc thought a second the replied, "Not really, Jimmy. Except that the controls for the machine are in the room right next to here so it'll be just you in here during the process."

"Gotcha. Bright and early tomorrow morning, then?" Conan asked.

"Bright and early tomorrow morning, Jimmy," Dr. Agasa replied.

The two said their good nights, then Conan let himself out. He then returned home to find a waiting Rachel and a still drunk, dozing Richard. _Maybe I should tell her that I'm coming tomorrow through one of Jimmy's phone calls,_ he thought later when he had been thinking what will be in store for the two of them the next day when he was getting ready for bed. He paused to ponder it a moment longer then decided _nah! Let it be a surprise for her later!_ Conan then crawled into his pile of blankets, and quickly fell asleep. His dreams that night were filled with dreams of Rachel, the beach, having his own body back, and Rachel's little pale blue bikini (he's only human, you know).

The next morning, Rachel shook Conan awake. "Conan? Wake up, it's getting late. Dr. Agasa has called you about 3 times already, but you've been sleeping. Now I've got to be leaving for my vacation pretty soon here."

Conan rolled over, rubbed his eyes then mumbled, "What time is it?"

"It's a quarter past 10," Rachel replied.

This really got Conan's full attention as he quickly sat up and screeched, "What?!" He leapt over to his alarm clock and saw that the alarm read 12:00 AM. But he had sworn that he had set it the night before and it looked like it was in a different spot than it had been the night before.

Rachel explained, "It had went off at 6:15 this morning and Dad came in here, took it off its stand, then threw it to the floor, and it had became unplugged. I then came in here to wake you in a gentler manner but you wouldn't listen and started singing your own off key version of the Pink Panther song."

"I overslept! Rachel why didn't you try and wake me again?! Now I'll be late!" Conan complained.

Rachel tilted her head to one side the sighed, "Conan, I did try again. The next time you were dead to the world and kept mumbling for the waitress to come back so that you could order some zebra cakes for you and me. Sounds like an interesting dream."

Conan's eyes shifted away from Rachel then said "Uh, yeah it was. But why didn't you try and wake me again after that?"

Rachel's face narrowed and she said, "You kept throwing your shoes at me. Besides that I knew that you were going to have a long day ahead of you and you need your sleep."

"Thanks, Rach," he mumbled sarcastically. "Now, if you don't mind I've gotta hurry up and get ready to leave."

"Okay," she replied, and with that she left. Quickly he changed into his suit and bow tie (_For the last time for a week!_) and grabbed his "sleeping bag" (actually it was a bag of wadded up pieces of paper and fabric). Then he ran into the living room.

"Bye Richard! Bye Rachel!" He tried to make it out of the front door but Rachel stopped him just in time by yelling out, "Conan Edogawa, do not run out that door before I get a chance to tell you goodbye!" Conan slowly turned around to see Rachel staring right at him (_feels more like through..._Conan thought). Her face changed into a smile though as she ran and hugged him goodbye.

"Oh, You're going to be out in the wilderness for a whole week, maybe even more," Rachel said, sounding more like a mother hen than a seventeen year old girl. "You must call me if you stay more. Dr. Agasa told me that he'd have his cell phone with him so I can check up with you (_he'll also have a voice immolator already set to my voice_ Conan thought). So will it be just you two?"

Conan nodded.

"Won't you be really bored having only an old man for company?" Rachel asked.

"Nah. We'll be fishing and hiking and all of that fun outdoors stuff!" Conan replied, as enthusiastic as ever.

_But, _Rachel thought. _Those things won't last that long. I wish he would have someone his age going along with him. _But instead of voicing her opinion she simply said, "Okay, Conan. Well, have fun, but be careful."

Conan graciously took this as Rachel allowing him to leave, so he called out "Bye Rachel, I'll see you in a week!" _Actually I'll see you in just a couple of hours. But you're not to know that. _Conan thought. He ran over to his house to set out the clothes that he was going to wear, then ran through the back alley to Dr. Agasa's to wait while Doc made the finishing touches on his invention.

Meanwhile, back at the Moore residence, Rachel was just double-checking that she had everything she could possibly need, when the doorbell rang. She ran to answer it, and instead of being greeted by an early bird Serena, she was greeted by the 3 young faces of Conan's friends, Amy, Mitch, and George.

Rachel smiled then said, "Good morning kids. What do you guys need?"

"Can Conan come out and play?" Mitch asked.

"Yeah, we were wanting to play go hide and seek with him!" Amy said.

"That's because he's the worst hider and the best seeker." George added.

"Too bad kids. You just missed him," Rachel said. "He just left to go on a week long camping trip with Dr. Agasa." She paused to think for a moment. _Conan will probably get really bored if he's the only kid there. Maybe he'd like having his three best friends along with him._ "But I bet, if you hurry over there right now, Dr. Agasa might let you come along with them. It sounded like they are going to be having a lot of fun."

"That sounds terrific, Ms. Moore!" Mitch said.

"Yeah, we could get to go camping in a real tent, with a real campfire, and fishing for real fish!" George said.

"Well, then what are we waiting for, guys? Let's go and see if we can go, too!" Amy said.

The three kids bounded off, back down the stairs and down the street toward Dr. Agasa's house. Rachel smiled, pleased with the comforting thought of Conan having some company of his own age for the trip. _My good deed for the day is done. Now if only the world would turn perfect and bring Jimmy back to me..._

At Dr. Agasa's house, Conan and the Doc were just ready to fire up the maximizer. "Are you sure you want this, Jimmy?" Dr. Agasa asked.

Conan nodded. _Making Rachel cry breaks my heart. Even if I'll have only a week then I'll have to return as Conan, at least she'll get a proper explanation this time. Maybe she'll even learn to forgive me for having to leave. Maybe she'll realize what I'm really doing for her and don't give up hope for me...But I don't want her missing out on life just because I have to. But she was so sad. Seeing Jimmy will give her hope. Make her stronger. Be happier. At least for a little while..._

Dr. Agasa left the room and Conan climbed into the glass box to sit on the cold, metal stool. At least he didn't have to hear that awful racket that the maximizer was making out there. The box not only sealed him and the lazer beam in, but it sealed the noise out. It also sealed out any extra oxygen, but the process would only take a minute or two, the Doc had informed him earlier, and he wouldn't run out of oxygen until about the fifth minute. _Now all I have to do is wait. Maybe I'll think of what I'm going to say to her when she first sees me..._

At Dr. Agasa's front door Amy came up, the first to arrive of the 3. Amy, having no intention of slowing down for "those slowpokes" and really wanting to go camping with Conan, started to knock on the door. But the first rap showed her that the door had not been shut properly the last time that it was used, so it opened wide. Mitch and George ran up the steps then and all three of them noticed the loud noises coming from another room down the hall in Dr. Agasa's house.

Amy turned around and asked the boys, "Do you think we should go in?"

"Yeah," George said. "Or else we might miss out on the great adventure of camping!"

Amy led the pack in, slowly creeping towards the room that they thought that the noise was coming from. She slowly opened the door that the great sounds were coming from, and the three kids saw before them a glass box with their best pal Conan inside of it. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was mumbling to himself.

"Guys!" Amy shouted. "There's Conan! And he looks he's in lots of trouble! We need to save him!" So the three bounded forward, thinking that they were saving their friend from a bad guy of sorts. George, being the strongest and the most gullible of the three to become a hero, leapt ahead of Amy and Mitch and swung the door clean open. He then smartly shouted, "Hey, Conan!"

Conan's attention shot up, abruptly shaken from his blissful thoughts about his spring break week as Jimmy. His gaze caught his three friends, and with a horrified look on his face started to motion for them to leave, and leave quickly. But he was interrupted by the Edogawa Maximizer 2000 taking action and shooting its lazer beam throughout the room that they were all in.

Strawbeby- I'm so sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger. But I couldn't help myself. Don't worry. I already have the next chapter written and I'll have it typed up and on the site within the week (I write the plot out in my notebook, let my best friend, Sakinu, review it, then add all of details on here. Don't worry. I cliffhang her, too. But with that I accidentally stop in the middle of a sentence. Don't ask how I stop in the middle of a sentence. I just do.


	3. Conan Takes Charge of a Childish Mistake

strawbeby - To remind those people who are reading this because I updated it and they've already read the rest (I wish) Conan, Mitch, Amy, and George have are all watching the Edogawa Maximizer 2000 (the machine that Dr. Agasa invented to turn Conan back into Jimmy for a week or two).

What the Tide brings In – Chapter 3

By strawbeby

Conan's eyes saw red as the beam of the Edogawa Maximizer 2000 shot throughout the room that he, Mitch, George, and Amy were in. They were all mystified at its quickness and those beams was all that Conan could think about, and they left him forgotten about the three kids who opened the door of the glass room. _Dr. Agasa was right. The beam shoots through me so many times but it doesn't hurt a bit. In fact it feels like being tickled in places you thought could never be ticklish. Teeth, hair, fingers, everywhere._ But after a while it got old. _I thought the Doc said that the process would only take a minute or two. It's been eight at least..._

Finally, after about 15 minutes, the beam reflected back through the projector and it disappeared. Conan regain consciousness of what had happened. Him sitting there minding his own business just trying to look like himself again. Amy, Mitch, and George running in and George swinging the door open. _That must mean..._ Conan looked around the room and he saw the three kids lying on the floor, looking very frightened. _Then they must've gotten hit, too... _

"No...no, no, no,** no!**" Conan mumbled to himself, realizing what will happen now. The rest of the Junior Detective League heard him, and figured that it must be over. George stood up from his belly position, Mitch got out of the tornado drill position (knees on the ground, below your belly, kneeling, with your hands protecting your head), and Amy looked up from her fetal position that she was sitting in. Amy, rushing ahead before the others regained their heads, asked, "What's the matter Conan?"

Conan brought a hand to his head, to help him think of what to do. Naturally he was put into a foul mood so he snappily replied, "You. Are Not. Supposed. To Be. Here. What. Are. You Doing. Here?

Mitch leapt up with a reply. "Rachel told us that you and Dr. Agasa are going camping. But we'd much rather know what that lazer thingy was. Are you guys going on a camping trip on the moon?"

"No," George said as if that was that was the most absurd thing in the world. "That's silly. He's obviously a top secret spy and we just saved him from a very painful death from an angry foe!"

"Silly boys." Amy spoke up, standing to try and raise herself to the rest of the group's level. "What we just saw was an amazing lazer show that Conan and Dr. Agasa are taking on tour with the circus."

"Quiet, you three!" Conan shouted. He was already frustrated with them for, as he was beginning to see, ruin his vacation. Them arguing over something stupid was enough to pull him over his head with frustration. "None of you really realize what you have just done, by opening the door. Could you be any more stupid?! You not only interrupted a scientific doing, but you've become part of it. Now I don't have any choice but to tell you of your idiocity, along with a secret that will surely get you killed for knowing."

With all of the hot air blown out of him, Conan looked over at the three kids, all of whom looked at the brink of tears for being persecuted for doing something that they had not known was wrong. And of course a pang of guilt shot through him. "Guys, I'm sorry for calling you stupid. But you still don't realize what you've really done by interrupting me. I guess what I can start with is the truth."

"You really are a spy?" Amy asked.

"No!" Conan said with the same ferocity as before. He quickly calmed down, though, then said, "I mean, no, I'm not a spy, but I do have a secret that will affect how you think about me." He paused for a moment then inhaled. "Guys, I'm not really seven year old, Conan Edogawa. I'm really Jimmy Kudo."

Conan was responded with a loud outburst from George. "Ha! Good one, Conan! Okay, If you get to be Jimmy Kudo, then I want to be Yaiba!" The kids had heard a bit about Jimmy, and had even met him once, while trying to sneak onto a roller coaster. He was an idol in their eyes until he disappeared from the media, and now the kids didn't even give him second thought. _Conan must've though because Jimmy's a really good detective and Conan's a detective, too. _Amy thought.

Conan just rolled his eyes, though and replied, "You can choose to believe me or you can choose not to believe me, George. The fact that still remains that in a out an hour we will all look like normal seventeen year old teenagers."

Their eyes bugged out with a loud yelp, "WHAT?!"

Conan looked at the ground and smiled. "It's really a complicated story. But I guess you are going to want an explanation of why you are going to turn into teenagers." When he looked back up his smile became less obvious as he began his explanation. "You all know that Jimmy Kudo is a world famous detective, right?" He was answered by the shuffle of nodding heads. "Well Jimmy, and now I'll refer to him as me, saw something suspicious when I was out with Rachel one night. As it happened I witnessed a crime take place and if I had told anyone then they were toast. So they killed me. Or at least they force fed me a poison that they thought would kill me. Instead, though, it took 10 years off of my life and made me unrecognizable except to those who knew me. I had been given a second chance, but I had soon realized that if I told anyone what I had seen and who I am then word would get out that I'm really Jimmy Kudo. Then those 'men in black' as I call them would come and kill me and anyone else that I held close. Do you got that?"

Conan was met with three of the blankest expressions that he had ever seen as they slowly realized that maybe they should be nodding their heads. So he gave them a rolling sigh then said, "I guess not. To put it in the simplest of terms, I really am Jimmy Kudo. That (he points to the Edogawa Maximizer) is a machine that puts 10 years on to a person's life. And you are going to become a teenager for a week or two."

This time the three showed more understanding, but still looked thoroughly confused. Conan spoke again, "I don't have time for a proper explanation. We only have about an hour, probably less, and with you guys coming along, we have a lot of things to get done. Firstly, your parents."

"What about my mom and dad, Conan?" Mitch asked, as if Conan was talking about killing them.

"Don't worry. We are just going to feed them an excuse so that they won't worry about their kids coming home for two weeks. I still like the camping idea, but they'll question about the different things that you would need, like clothing. But we don't have time to go, ask your parents, then pretend to pack, so we'll just have to hope beyond hope that they'll enjoy the time away from their kids, and trust Dr. Agasa to do the rest,"

His own words brought a realization to himself. "Oh, no! Dr. Agasa! What's happened to him?" Conan ran to the room next door, where Dr. Agasa had earlier said that would be where he was, and discovered the Doc unconscious on the floor. Heart beating wildly, for fear that when the lazer took longer than it should have it malfunctioned and ended up killing the Doctor, Conan ran to his side to feel the Doc's pulse on the wrist. _Thank the heavens. His heart's beating, and I can see his chest moving up and down, so I know that he's breathing now. He should be fine. But I have a lot to do before we can change..._

The three came into the room at that time, but before they could work up a good scare about Dr. Agasa's well being, Conan reassured them otherwise. "Don't worry. He's a tough cookie. But we really do need to let your parents know about the trip. I was planning on having Dr. Agasa calling while we changed, but he can't very well now that he's passed out."

"Well, what are you going to do then, Conan," George impatiently asked.

Conan smiled at his next idea and then took off his bow tie. He flipped a few switches then in Dr. Agasa's voice he replied, "Well we are just going to handle this ourselves, aren't we?"

The next half of an hour was a frenzy of phone calls. Most parents were hard to convince that they wouldn't need any clothes or necessities like that, but eventually they were convinced that they were being given a well earned break from their children. "And I'll have Rachel with me," Conan told them in the Dr. Agasa voice. "She's a black belt judoist, you know. And I've given you my cell phone number for emergencies and a promise that your children will call you every other night or so. (_Many thank yous to the real Doc for making the voice immolator)_" Finally even Amy's parents, who were definitely the toughest of all to convince ("All she'll have are those nasty boys," ; "But the girl needs her clothes and underpants,") allowed their children to go.

Hurrying all of the way, Conan decided that the next order should be to get the kids changed into clothes that would fit the teenage them. For George, Conan ran into Dr. Agasa's room to find some casual clothes and just grabbed what he first saw. "Here," he said, then thrust the clothes at George.

"But Conan," George complained. "These aren't my size. These are way too big."

Again Conan rolled his eyes, then said, "Whatever George. We just need to leave for my house and soon. You won't have to change there. You can just rip out of the clothes that you are wearing, and let us see your great naked self."

George's eyes, and after a quick, "I'll wear them," the foursome left for Jimmy's house. On the way there Conan thought about what the other two were going to wear. _Fortunately Mitch will probably be my size. Amy though....wait a second? Didn't Rachel accidentally leave some clothes at my house once, when we were dressing up in old costumes in my attic? I think that should do her just fine._

They arrived at the house, and Conan hurriedly pointed George to a spare room just off of the foyer. Then Conan led the other two up to his room, where he thought he could dress them. Conan picked up the clothes he had set on his bed earlier for himself and gave them to Mitch. "Take these, Mitch and go into the room next door, then change. When you are finished please go get George and show him the way to my room."

Mitch left, then Conan turned to Amy. "Fortunately for you I remembered that Rachel had left some clothes here a year or two ago when we were showing off some costumes that I had found in my attic." He retrieved the clothes from the spot that he had put them, under his bed, then laid them in Amy's hands. "There's a bathroom through that door. You can change there then come back in here. Please knock though. I'm going to be changing into my clothes to." She obeyed him and Conan was left to himself.

Conan got out clothes for himself then changed into them. As he was changing he thought about how much things were really going to be changed having those three along. _But maybe I can still..._ He zipped up his pants to finish him dressing himself then looked around the room. _Found it._ He put the tiny, cardboard box into his duffel bag then turned around to walk to the middle of the room to wait for the transformation to happen.

As soon as he reached the middle of his room he felt a tingling feeling all throughout his body. Like knowing you're in love, or drinking in a deliciously warm drink on a cold evening. Then, all at once, he grew. It was in a continuous motion and it began and stopped without warning. The feeling, to Conan was hard to explain. It was like being in a small space, but never knowing that it was small, then the place quickly opening and becoming larger. That's really the only easy way to put it into words. _But whatever it feels like, it feels great._ Conan stepped in front of the mirror that was on his door, took off his glasses that he had absentmindedly left on, then Jimmy admired his own reflection. He didn't get to relish in it long though, because after a moment of it, two of doors to his room swung open, revealing a teenage Amy, a teenage Mitch, and a teenage George.

strawbeby – Some of the other notes that you all need: Whenever Jimmy looks like Conan, I call him Conan. Whenever Jimmy looks normal, I call him Jimmy. But with Amy, Mitch, and George, I will always call them Amy, Mitch, and George, no matter how they look like. Also I have my story like worked out with their a hem growing bodies. All of them will experience hormones, though their state of mind and knowledge will stay the same unless they learn something. But the younger ones will not experience the same bodily functions as normal teenagers. Sakinu thought it would be funny to have Amy going through her period and a really horny George, but to me that's kind of sick. I also wanted to say that I don't own Case Closed/Detective Conan. I'm just using the curator's idea, show, characters, etc., etc. Ryan (Serena's cousin) is mine, though because there has never been a perfect cousin of Serena's named Ryan on the show.

P.s. please review. I don't care if you think my story is absolute crap. Please tell me and tell me what to improve. I'd also love to hear any idea's you think would go good in the story. I basically have the plot down but I'm always welcome to another's clever idea to add, and I'll give you full credit for it. But most of all tell me what you think of my story.


	4. Three New Teenagers, a Shopping Spree, a...

Warning: There is a bit of PG/PG-13 stuff in this chapter about Amy. And I hope no one here hates the word "bra". To the guys – I'm sorry. I know shopping is boring. But at least I make it somewhat funny!

What the Tide Brings In – Chapter 4 – Three New Teenagers, a Shopping Spree, and a Train Trip.

By strawbeby

All four of our teenagers formerly known as seven year old kids, took a moment to take all of what was before them in before they spoke. In all of them you could see a hint of their former bodies, but even if their own parents passed them on the street, the parents would not be able to recognize them as their own.

"Holy Cow, Conan!" George exclaimed. He realized then that his voice took a lower setting then he played with that. "Hey, I even sound grown up! 'Luke, I am your father!' Cool!" He livened up, as he thought about how 'cool' being a teenager would be. George looked a couple years over seventeen though, because of the style of his clothing. Dr. Agasa, being a person who mostly wore only a lab coat, had very few casual clothing and the ones that Conan had gotten for George looked so old that they were practically falling at the thread. He wore a blue Hawaiian looking shirt, whose print was so tacky that Jimmy was surprised that he didn't realize it earlier when he picked it out. The shorts looked like they were supposed to be denim at one point in time, but they just settled on being a worn blue mish mash of a fabric. George himself though looked normal (or at least he did not look like he had gotten mixed up in some toxic waste at a young age and become deformed). His buzz cut hair remained the same, along with the signature "George eyebrows" and eyes. His head evened out, though (stbb: Have you ever noticed that his head looks like a triangle most of the time in the episodes?), and like all matured kids, his face became slightly narrower, though the bulk of it was still there, and a chin protruded out. George's body had somehow slimmed slightly in the process, but anyone could still see that he had gained a more muscled body. Also of course he'd gone through the growth spurt that he had still left in him, now sporting a size of 13 in men's shoes and easily towered a foot over the rest of the people in the room.

"Woah!" Mitch said. "You really were telling the truth! Cool! So this is what it's like being all grown up!" Mitch, having the best clothing options of the group because he was about the same size as Jimmy, looked like a model out of the magazine. Except that the forest green pleaded shirt that Conan had given him was put on inside out. His hair was definitely longer than George's, but it somehow looked well groomed, and gave the rest of himself an air of one who isn't trying hard to be perfect, but somehow is. Mitch's face took on a definite example of this, because the rest could see that face that they recognized but it had grown more handsome and dignified. Though you couldn't tell it at them moment because he was grinning his head off. His body's form stayed the same as well, except that, like George, he gained more muscles. Mitch was a couple of inches taller than Jimmy, though, so the blue jeans that he had loaned to him looked more like caprice or high waters.

At this time Mitch made an intelligent move. He reached his hand up into between his butt crack and informed the rest of the people in his company, "I don't know if I like it. Do grown-ups always have super wedgies? 'Cause if they do, I don't know how they do it."

This observation brought a sudden realization to Jimmy. _Their underwear! I forgot to tell them to change! They've got to be uncomfortable. And Amy probably isn't wearing a bra...(Do seven-year-old girls wear bras?)...Even if she was then it would still be really tight._ So blushing slightly for thinking the word bra and thinking it along the terms with Amy, he said, "Oops. I guess that I forgot to mention that you'd need to change underwear. Of course you wouldn't have anything to replace it with, but we can get them later, along with some clothes that you'll need. And I bet that your pretty uncomfortable at the moment Amy, for not having a...uh...bra."

Since that last sentence was directed at her, the others looked over at Amy to see her reaction to turning seventeen. She was the shortest of all of the four, being the girl, but by no means was she the least changed. Amy's haircut was the same as before, a cute short bob with a white hair band in it, but it wore on this Amy different that the last. This one's face still held that girlhood twinkle in her eye, but her nose lengthened out significantly, and her mouth's lines created a natural outspokenness. Amy looked every bit the petit girl part in the body's sense, except for her arms being stubbornly folded across her chest. With tight lips she firmly commanded, "Change me back, Conan. I don't like it."

"Why?" George chuckled like such a wish was foolish. "This is gonna be a blast, Amy! Wait and see!"

Amy's glare shot bullets and daggers in his direction when she angrily replied, "This is why!" She unfolded her arms to reveal to the guys her chest. Yes, she did fit the flower-printed shirt, and old jean shorts of Rachel's just fine. Except in one area where it was substantially different. The chest. Or more specifically the breast area. Rachel was a normal girl in that area. But Amy's...area...was quite large and without anything to hold them in place they threatened to pop the buttons of her shirt. Around her, the three now-teenage guys' eyes bulged out of their sockets at the hormone stirring sight. For a moment no one said anything, whether being in an outraged storm, or shock that Amy could have such ... assets.

Finally, though, the courageous Mitch spoke up. "It's a lovely change, Amy. You've grown great, I mean, uh you look pretty!" he said, as he worked up a good flush.

His embarrassment was overlooked, thankfully. Amy firmly said, "Conan! Change me back! Now!" in such a voice that she wouldn't realize until later, but it had a quality in it that makes all under its wrath squirm in fear. However, Jimmy somehow found the strength to reply "I can't. It has to wear off. And please, don't call me Conan anymore. My real name is Jimmy. If you guys end up accidentally calling me Conan when we get to the beach, then my whole cover could be ruined, Rachel would find out, then not only she would be murdered but all of you, too."

"Fine!" Amy roared. "I'll go on your stupid trip! Whatever! I just need to tell my mommy bye, and grab my teddy!"

Unfortunately, Jimmy had to add another unpleasantness to her wrath. "I'm sorry, Amy. If you go home, your mom will know you've turned seventeen, she'll find out that I'm really Jimmy Kudo, word will get out, then again, death and destruction to hand out to everyone I know an love with a special note from those men in black."

Again, the kids who were never teenagers to begin with replied in suprise with, "WHAT?!"

Jimmy bent his head toward the ground in an apologetic way. "I thought you guys realized that when I called them." By this time Amy was on the verge of tears. _No Mommy, no Daddy, no Teddy, no bed. I have to be someone that is really uncomfortable with a wedgie. And Conan keeps telling me that I'll die if I don't keep this secret. Great. Life just keeps getting better and better._ Mitch and George didn't look too happy either. George was still psyched from having a deep voice and more muscles to be really down, but Mitch realized the downside, too. _All I'm going to do is embarrass myself. I feel like going home, crawling under my bed, and then eating a bag of Mommy's homemade cookies._

Fortunately, Jimmy had an upside. "But there's a good thing about being older. No adult supervision." He thought about that for a second then corrected himself. "Well at least for me. You all will have me, but I'm no babysitter so..." Amy still didn't look too happy so he also popped in another point. "And, you'll get to go shopping for a whole new wardrobe. Thankfully good ol' Dad trusts me with an emergency credit card. And I'm sure that he won't mind it being maxed out (_Evil Grin. He He He.)_. That will be something to get you in the teenage girlish frame of mind, Amy."

So they left the Kudo residence, to go to the nearest mall (it's actually the one that they got trapped in, in the case of the hi jacked department store). But before they actually went there, they stopped over at the Agasa residence to see how the Doc was doing. They didn't stay long though because he was cranky. Well you would be too if you had your experiment messed up by three kids and now had to use a back up voice immolator to fool their parents whenever they called. Other than that, though, he's fine. So they left as quickly as they could for the dual purpose of getting to the beach TODAY and leaving the foul mooded Doc behind.

Soon they had arrived at the mall and Jimmy, having to do some more things, sent them on their own to shop. "I still have a lot to do before we leave. For one my own packing is not done and though you get to buy your own wardrobe, I can't. Another, the hotel reservations still need to be made. I haven't even made my own, thinking Rachel could possibly let me bunk in her room, but now I can't because you all came along. Plus how are we going to get there, that credit card won't last forever for our money supply, and the list goes on. So I'll give you all two hours of free reign of the store. Give the clerks the excuse that all your life your mom has made your clothes and she, uh, died a week ago and, uh, your dad insists on a new wardrobe. Whatever. But please keep in mind that we're going to a beach so you'll need the right accessories, etc., etc." After another five minutes of lecturing he handed Amy the credit card and he left. Letting three seven year olds, who look and sounded 10 years older than they actually were, loose in the mall. (What was he thinking?)

Amy took her natural leading role in the group, led the two boys at her side to the men's department, released them, then ran in the direction of women's.

(stbb – Please don't kill me for adding this songfic to this)

She runs into the women's department and as a grin comes across her face the song "Wild Thing" plays on the overhead intercom.

"Newwwwwww, dum dum, dum dum dum, dum dum, dum dum dum"

To each beat is a different pair of sunglasses that Amy has tried on (ex: Gold rimmed, purple lens'; wide ones with light pink lens'; tiny yellow square ones; ones that wrap all around her head)

"Wild Thing! Dum dum, dum, dum"

Amy flairs out of the dressing room in a sunflower printed sundress, and models it for herself in front of a large mirror in front of her.

"You make my heart sing. Dum dum, dum dum"

She comes out in a school girl's ensemble this time then makes a really stupid attempt at dancing a disco in front of the mirror.

"You make everything."

This time it's a body suit with cheetah spot's all over it, and again she does something stupid, this time growling and clawing pathetically like a cat (though she's not really trying to be pathetic).

"Groovy"

All we see now is her head and she flips her hair like she's a model.

"Dum dum, dum, dum, Dum dum, dum, dum"

Now with each beat flash a different pair of shoes that Amy's tried on (ex: jellie sandals, high heeled tennis shoes, big black go go boots)

(stbb – That's it for now. I could've written more but I had developed writers block and I did promise you all of the next chapter up in a week.)

Amy, Mitch, and George join back up an hour and a half later, and they pay for their purchases. All in all they only maxed out half of the credit card, but in all reality that's still a lot. I'll run down a list of what basically George and Mitch each bought:

3 casual tee shirts

3 pairs of men's jeans (all blue except one pair of George's)

1 dress shirt (Mitch- cranberry; George- forest green plaid)

1 pair of dress pants (both are tan)

1 pair of tennis shoes

1 pair of leather sandals

1 pair of flip flops (Mitch- thong; George- over strapped)

1 pair of loafers

1 pair of swim trunks

1 pair of pajamas (George- Red plaid; Mitch- yellow with black polka dots)

1 pair of pajama pants for cold nights (Mitch- black; George- gray sweatpants)

1 windbreaker

3 towels

1 package of underwear

1 package of white socks

1 package of assorted colors of socks

1 toothbrush

1 set of combs

1 hair brush

1 stick of "manly" smelling deodorant (at least according to George)

The last things on the list were under recommendation of the nice lady at the counter (not the guy that helped dress them) after Mitch and George told her about where they were going. There were also a couple of entertaining things that the credit card bought for them, like Mitch bought a book with a lot of drawn pictures about aliens and big foot, and George got himself a family pack of Goldfish crackers and a portable CD player. They also got themselves 2 suitcases each to pack this stuff in. Amy though had gone hog wild in her shopping spree. I'll list a few things that she bought:

1 body suit in tiger stripes (she thought that stripes were more slimming than spots)

5 sundresses each in a completely unique print

3 pairs of sunglasses one for fashion, one for practicality, and one for hiding from people

1 pair of tennis shoes

2 pairs of pump shoes

4 pairs of flip flops (only one for practicality, the rest for fashion)

3 pairs of pajamas

1 bikini

1 one piece bathing suit

1 over shirt for bathing suits

2 jackets (one windbreaker, one fleece)

2 "fancy frilly" bras

3 sports bras

2 packages of underwear one white one multicolored

1 hair brush

1 curling iron

1 set of combs

50 piece set of hair accessories

1 crimping iron

1 toothbrush

1 electric toothbrush

The list goes on.

And on.

So as you can see she did a lot of shopping. If I listed all of what she bought I'd be here typing for days. All in all it was an estimated $1370 for all of her items (sorry, I only know U.S. currency). And she also bought 5 suitcases to carry it all in plus a duffel bag for some more "necessity" items such as nail polish, 3 teenage magazines to learn all that she could about being a teenager, and a 40 piece makeup kit. (That's a scary thought – Amy and makeup ï 


	5. The Lily Pad and Rachel's Beginning

Strawbeby – sorry. I haven't loaded a new chapter in a week (?). But good news! I'm over my writers block and I'm continuing writing the main outline/plot of my story. And Rachel is coming back into my story after taking a 2 (?) chapter break. But like all of you care! Now on with the story!

What the Tide Brings In Chapter 5 – The Lily Pad and Rachel's Beginning

By strawbeby

Jimmy, Amy, Mitch, and George stepped out of the little train station in Ryuteki, the tiny beach town that was right on the northeast shore of Japan. While Jimmy called a cab for the four of them, George, Mitch, and Amy unloaded their suitcases from the train (almost half of them Amy's). This cabby wasn't as accepting as their last one on the matter of four teenagers along with their luggage being in his cab, though, so Jimmy called a second one for George and Mitch, the arrangements under the recommendation of Amy. So they all piled into a cab, and on their way to their hotel, they got their first good look at the town that they would be staying in for the week.

Ryuteki, the small beach town just north of Misawa, was a quaint town, relatively unknown to tourists out of an hours range, despite the boardwalk that had been built about 50 years ago. Mostly it was permanent residents who lived there, but once a year Jimmy's school, who had been sending students there for a reward for about 60 years, filled the town with upper high school students looking forward to the spring break. It really was a clean town, looking like a college belonged somewhere nearby. It contained 3 different restaurants, one hotel (which had its own restaurant along with the others), a bank, a post office, and then the coup de grace was the board walk. On it there was every fun ride imaginable from bumper cars to a large Ferris wheel. There were vendors of various treats like cotton candy and taffy, and of hot dogs and French fries. The stores on it offered many unique souvenirs. Most of the time the boardwalk was only in operation during the summer time. But the town made an exception when Jimmy's school came, opening everything to cater the needs of the rich city kids.

Mitch, George, and Amy might have enjoyed looking at the town on their cab ride, but Jimmy's mind was on something of a different variety. Every new site brought up a different memory of years gone by. The train station reminded him of when he, Rachel, and a group of their friends snuck out at, like, three in the morning to run into Misawa to grab some Taco Bell, just because Rachel had had a crazy crave for some of their cinnamon swirls. Then when they got back they tried to convince that they had been there the whole time by telling them that they had gotten the tacos from the restaurant. The souvenir shops reminded him of the time when Rachel dared him to sell a box of foam visor hats that all said Ryuteki on them, and he ended up placing them on every tree on town. The Ferris wheel on the board walk told him that he had promised Rachel that he would ride it with her last year, but he ended up getting sick, and she nursed him back to good health. Then they stayed in his room the whole night playing Monopoly, and joking it up by pretending with the fake money to bribe the other to do stupid things. Rachel even almost convinced him to streak through the town for Park Place and Boardwalk. _I was all better by the next morning, but I still can't help feeling that I ruined her evening. I wonder what would've happened if I hadn't gotten sick, and we rode the Ferris wheel together._

Jimmy's thoughts were brought to an abrupt halt when the cabby stopped the car and shouted "So are you gonna pay me or what?" Jimmy got out, paid both of the cabbies then helped the others unload the cars. Then they turned around to take a good look at the place that they would call home for a week. The Lily Pad was a quaint little inn, the outsides painted an overall color of white with big bold forest green around the windows and window shutters. There were actually three buildings that the hotel consisted of. One of them was an over all lodging house, with a total of 87 rooms and 6 sweets. It included 4 floors, the first three including the normal rooms and the top reserved for the sweets. The sweets were never supposed to be given out to the students and reserved for what little supervision that the school sent, but there were always about five of them that ended up having a student either sleeping in it, or renting it. The main building, which is what the four were facing at the time, included the lobby and 24 more rooms. If you loved an ocean view you'd probably throw down a good amount more of money to get these rooms. Again the building was a 4 floorer, the first was the whole of the lobby, and the other three were of course lodging floors. The third building of the Lily Pad though was the hot spot of the hotel. There you could visit their underground pool, the fancy restaurant, the pick up and go sushi bar, the arcade, the salon, the gift shop, the hotel's dance club Frogger, or the hotel spa.

The four teenagers entered the hotel, leaving their luggage outside for the time being, then Jimmy rang a bell on the reception desk to get assistance. From behind it popped a bald head which saw his clientele (is that the right word?). Then the head broke out in a wide grin and the rest of the body followed it as the man said, "Was that Jimmy Kudo who just rang my service bell? When I asked Rachel 'Why isn't Jimmy here?' she simply told me that you were a jerk who loved his cases more than people. So I assumed you two were fighting again like normal! Boy, was I surprised to here you call only minutes afterwards requesting a room!"

Mr. John Cartier, the manager of the hotel was a fairly short, bald headed man, his main feature of hair being the burly black mustache along his mouth. Though this was only Jimmy's third year coming to the event, Mr. Cartier had taken an uncle like role the first year after Jimmy had caught a thief for the hotel. He was a nosy little widower, always curious about the happenings of the teenagers. But Jimmy trusted the adult role he took on for him, and had always told Mr. Cartier what he thought. This was probably because Jimmy knew that Mr. Cartier read Sherlock Holmes, and felt safe with his advice.

In response to Mr. Cartier's reaction, Jimmy lifted his hand up to absentmindedly ruffle his own hair then said, "Yeah, well, she doesn't know that I was planning on coming. Rach's really gonna be ticked. But I got other things going on, as well. Did you make sure that there were two sets of bunk beds in the room, like I requested?"

"No," Mr. Cartier replied. "All of the bunk beds are in use. I'm giving you your normal room of course. The stain where you kicked a plate of spaghetti, I think at Rachel, but it ended up splattering all over my clean wall, it's still there. I did give you two beds, though. I don't see why in heavens name you need them, either."

Jimmy's facial expressions gave a momentary look of irritation then he said, "Mr. Cartier, I'd like you to meet Ariel, Michael, and Greg. They have to stay with me in my room for the week." He had to give the three of them, who were not paying attention a bit to the conversation before them, a kick before they realized that their "names" had been said. They each gave a little smile and said hello before Jimmy returned to the point of the conversation. "If you haven't noticed, Ariel is a girl. She won't like sleeping in a bed with a guy for a whole week."

Stubborn opposition shone across Mr. Cartier's face as he said, "Well, I'm sorry but I have no other rooms. It looks like one of you guys will have to take to the love seat as a bed. But beyond that, there's nothing I can do. Now it looks like you have little to no luggage so I'll leave you here with your keys. I will see you later Jimmy." With that he threw two pairs of keys onto the desk for them, scurried, then disappeared beyond the door behind the desk. _No luggage my butt!_ Jimmy thought. _He knows that we left our luggage outside and made a quick getaway so that he could be a lazy old fart! _

So the four teenagers went back out to where their luggage still sat, and drug the suitcases to the main lodging building of the inn, and to the fourth floor where Jimmy's "usual" room was. Meanwhile, Rachel was enjoying a diet cola outside, on the patio of the hotel's sushi bar. She was in the presence of two others, one of them only shutting their mouth when someone else actually succeeded at interrupting her or to take a healthy slurp of her lemon lime soda. The three were really lucky, snagging a table at that spot. The tables were usually packed, but they had managed to get there just before their fellow peers.

"Ryan is a senior this year and he's already decided where he's going to college at," Serena Sebastian said to Rachel as if the guy wasn't sitting right at the same table as them. "He's going to Harvard to study to become a layer, and he's already received credits for it in high school." She looked over at the one in topic as he nodded and said, "Yeah, early decision."

She continued boosting her cousin up as much as she could to her friend. "Rachel, you might think that he is too rich, but actually he gives most of his allowance to the different homeless shelters around the city. He is terribly sympathetic with low finances because once his best friend had ended up being like that. Of course, when Ryan found out he invited his friend and his friend's family to stay with him until they got back up on their feet."

"Yeah, he and I were really close."

"And for the last couple of breaks from school he goes on trips with Greenpeace to try and save the rainforests. He's been to almost all of the continents trying to convince the dignitaries to become more kind to the environments around them. A couple of them had even been convinced to donate up to $100,000 to the cause."

"Yeah, it feels really great to make a difference like that"

"And did you know, Rach, that at Ryan's school he was voted most likely to become an influential politician. He's really..."

Rachel sat there smiling at Serena as if she really was happy that she was introducing him to her, but in her head she was thinking something else. _Serena, I really don't want to be set up on this vacation. I only wanted to have a relaxing holiday on the beach. No romance. No stress. No little genius detective boys running around solving cases. No danger around every corner of every day. No stupid excuses from stupid detectives who are always on stupid cases and then they can never see you. Just the beach._

After a while Serena fortunately left saying that she had scheduled herself a spa appointment with a very cute massage boy. Which left Ryan and Rachel alone for the first time that they had met.

As they watched her round the corner to the spa, they remained in the silence that Serena left them in. But after a moment, Ryan spoke up. "A little over enthusiastic isn't she?"

Rachel finished a lengthy sip of her drink then replied, "Yeah, but that's Serena. She's got to do a back flip off the board before she can dip her toes in."

"Yeah, but she was right about something," Ryan said.

Rachel looked slightly doubtful, but replied, "Yeah? What?"

"You really are beautiful and sweet."

Rachel chose to focus on her drink, trying not to think of the blush on her cheeks. _But if he wants to pay me compliments..._ she flipped her hair a bit, batted her eyes a couple of times, then said, "Really?" in a voice that sounded like it was made of honey.

Ryan, telling he might be getting somewhere Rachel, cajoled with, "Yeah. I could tell that you were not enjoying yourself when she was talking, but you put a smile on anyway just to please her. That's a really nice quality to have in a best friend."

Bat, bat. Bat, bat. "Thanks. You sound really nice, too. I mean, if it were me on your side, I would've end up slapping her and yelling at her to shut up. But you stayed really cool about it. And helping out with the homeless situation sounds like a really worthy cause to be spending your spare time on."

Ryan's bashful side took front seat as he said, "Yeah, well I, uh..." He caught a glance at his watch and was startled. "Oh, shoot! I have a reservation at the restaurant in 15 minutes. I better get going. Unless... Hey Rachel! Would you like to come and have dinner with me? My treat, of course."

Rachel dropped the flirt side that she had absentmindedly taken moments before to really think about it. _But what about Jimmy? I mean aren't I supposedly "dating" him? Of course the jerk has never asked, never being here to. And he never will be! A guy like him would never deserve a girl like me, being such a pompous jerk! And Ryan's really nice, too!_ "Sure, Ryan. I'd love to have dinner with you!"

Ryan's face lit up like a light bulb as he told her to meet him back at the same spot in 10 min. Then he ran off through the door to the main building to get ready. He was one of those lucky ones that got a room with a great view. The only negative point was that it was reserved right next to Serena's (enough said).

Rachel then took off through the doors that led to the main lodging building, where she stayed on the fourth floor. Her mind was rushing with so much happiness that when she crossed paths with Mr. Cartier, as he was what she thought was trying to get her to pay for her cola., she didn't even hear him try and stop her with "Ms. Moore, there's something I need to -."Instead Rachel just kept running, while she shouted back, "I'll pay you later!" _Greedy old man._ She thought as she climbed the stairs to the top. _Always wants his money now and never keeps tabs._

Rachel just kept running, not wanting to waste anytime in her preparation. She never even saw the guy come out of the room just before hers. Rachel kept running and in her excitement ran full force into Jimmy Kudo.

- - - - - - - - - -

Strawbeby – Don't you hate cliffies? I hate cliffies. But I'll give you a cliffie just to have fun! :) Please review my story! Give me the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Just don't send me a picture of Richard! HaH!). I'm serious. What am I doing right? What am I doing wrong? I'll give you a cookie! O.k. maybe not a cookie. How about a hot dog? I guess I can't really bribe my readers to review – that would be wrong. But I am whole heartedly encouraging you to criticize me! Criticize me badly if you have to! I just want to improve my writing. And for you to keep reading "What the Tide Brings In"

P.s. I'm just saying I don't own hot dogs, Taco Bell, Case Closed/Detective Conan, or train stations. or Taco Bell's delicious cinniman swirl things (those are awsome). Misawa is a real city in Japan, I just used it because it looked like it was far away from Tokyo and in a nice position. I did make the town of Ryuteki up, though. I think that a ryuteki is an oriental flute. But if there really is a town of Ryuteki near Misawa let me know. I'd get a kick out of it. I wouldn't change my story to invent a new town, but I'd get a real hoot out of it.


	6. A Twist, a Hospital, and an Elevator Rid...

Strawbeby - warning: there is a good amount of violence in this chapter. Also some real world things that one of the characters thinks is happening...you'll know when you read it. If you don't want to read something really blunt, just email me and I can send you a revised version which is better for younger minds.

Readers comments:

Ainominako - Smack dab! I bet he enjoyed having her run into him!  
Hands you a picture of Richard

Moon Shaddow - Great story! By the way, 'drug' is not the past tense form of 'drag'. It's 'dragged'. And the spaghetti stain from Jimmy kicking a plate of spaghetti at Rachel, that was funny. PLease update soon!

(if you don't get the picture of Richard then you haven't been reading my little notes have you? See bottom note/Chapter 5)

Well enough boring you with unending tangents and on with the story!

What the Tide Brings in Chapter 6 - A Twist, a Hospital, and an Elevator Ride.

By strawbeby

Jimmy Kudo and Rachel Moore both fell abruptly to the carpeted floor right outside of Jimmy's room in the Lily Pad. Jimmy had stood back up after a moment on the ground, but Rachel remained there, taking the collision a bit worse. He really didn't expect her to try and stand up right away though, figuring she'd be a little fazed after seeing him for the first time in six months.

"Hey, Rachel," Jimmy greeted, with a bit of anxiousness in his voice.

Rachel opened her eyes, looked up, and saw that she had ran right into Jimmy Kudo himself. "Jimmy?" she said, like she was having a day dream or a fantasy or something like that.

Jimmy absentmindedly lifted his hand to ruffle his hair as he replied, "I'm surprised that you haven't forgotten my name, Rach. You haven't seen me in a while. Thank corn dogs that I know your telephone number, or I don't know who I would've had to talk to."

Rachel's eyes were glazed and her head looked like it should've been filled with helium. "What are you doing here?" she said with a bit of a waver in her voice.

The arm that was ruffling the hair came down to grasp his other arm, as Jimmy said, "Well, uh, I had some time off from my case, just a week, but I remembered the trip was this week, and I wanted to join you guys. You don't know how much I have missed just being myself."

Rachel still clearly thought that she was seeing an illusion before her. _I don't have time for fantasies, _she thought. _ I need to get ready for dinner. Ryan is going to be waiting for me to arrive in 10 minutes._ But when Rachel tried to stand up, her left ankle gave a searing pain, then she fell to the ground with an ear splitting shriek of pain.

Jimmy grew worried as he said, "Rachel are you hurt? Here, (at this point Jimmy tries to lift her up so she could walk with the support of his shoulder) let me help you up. Then I can get you down stairs where Mr. Cartier can take a look at it." Like I said, he tried to help her up. But she resisted his help, and she started yelling.

"You are just a dream, Jimmy Kudo! The real Jimmy would have started talking about how this had happened to Sherlock Holmes once and then took off without warning (_Ouch! That's below the belt Rach,_ Jimmy thought)! Wait a second... How can I feel pain if you are not real? Is this really happening?! Stop it right now, Jimmy!" Rachel yelled with much confusement in trying to get her words out. She looked like she was just told that 1 1 doesn't really equal 2.

"I'm just trying to get you some help, Rach. So, stop struggling." Jimmy grunted as he lifted the flailing girl onto his shoulders.

And of course who should come around the corner besides Ryan Sebastian, the man she is supposed to going on a date with. He had thought he could be even more of a gentleman by escorting Rachel to the restaurant and heard Rachel's scream from the bottom story of the building. So Ryan screeched up the stairs, recognizing the scream as having Rachel's tone. And what exactly did Ryan thought was happening to Rachel, seeing her being lifted into the air by a strange guy as she was angrily trying to fight back? He thought that Rachel was going to be raped. So Prince Charming here to save the day!

"Put her down, creep!" Ryan shouted, as he ran at a break neck speed down the hallway. Jimmy looked up to see him, but couldn't pay a lot of attention to him because Rachel had just kicked him really hard in the gut.

"Put me down!" Rachel screamed.

By that time Ryan had arrived and was attempting to get Rachel away from Jimmy. Wham! Ryan gave a right hook to Jimmy as Jimmy was just setting Rachel back down. This made Rachel tumble to the ground, slightly landing on her left foot, giving another shriek, then laying belly up on the floor. Ryan went to her side to help her along with Jimmy, after he stepped back for a moment to try and recover after being inflicted with injuries. _But Rachel is far worse along and this guy doesn't look smart enough to know that,_ Jimmy thought as he went to her side.

"Ryan?" Rachel said weakly, having seen him first.

Ryan smiled, nodded, and saw Jimmy come up. Then her reacted by leaping over Rachel and hitting Jimmy again. "Oh, no you don't, creep!" Ryan said.

Jimmy stumbled backwards, realizing that his nose was bleeding from Ryan's first punch. He hastily wiped the blood away then started on Ryan. "Look, bud! I don't know who you are, but obviously you don't realize this. I am this girl's oldest and best friend. She's hurt herself falling down...so...I...need to...," Jimmy said, struggling to get through Ryan to help Rachel.

But Ryan had not been in a two person head on running collision a couple of minutes before, and had not had a bloody nose and a sore gut. So,as Jimmy unsuccessfuly tried to get to Rachel, Ryan said, "Can it, loser! Rachel's best friend is Serena Sebastian and I know that for a fact. So get your nasty little butt out of my sight, and I  might consider not turning your sorry skin in."

Then, picking up the attitude of a perfect gentleman, Ryan turned to Rachel and looked over her for any major injuries on her. He then sympathetically said, "You look like you're in a lot of pain, Rachel. I will call an ambulance to get you to a nearby hospital. And don't worry about our date tonight. We can just make it up later."

Jimmy's eyes bulged out at what the guy next to him had just said. "Date?!! Rachel can't go on a date! She's...uh, well I, uh... Well, Rachel! Tell the boy who I am!"

But as both of the boys next to her stood looking thoroughly confused, Rachel fainted from the shock of her hurt ankle.

(stbb - Wouldn't you just kill me if I left a cliffie here? I was thinking about it but since I love you all so much and there isn't enough here to meet my standards of a chapter I won't. This will be your...Christmas Present! Christmas in October!)

When Rachel finally entered the state of consciousness again, she found herself in a hospital bed, between of those cottony white sheets and underneath of her was a plastic sheet underneath for all of those "accidents". She blinked twice to get her eyes into focus, then she noticed that there were two other figures in the room. Jimmy was at one side of her bed, staring with stern alertness at the screens that measured Rachel's heart activity and brain waves. Ryan was on her other side sitting on a hard wooden chair with his hands buried deep into his hair in deep frustration. Jimmy realized that she was finally awake and he smiled a large grin into her face as Ryan jumped up to greet Rachel in relief. Both of them wanted to be the first to talk to her and what Rachel ended up hearing was a jumble of both of the boys' words. "Rachel, you're awake! How are you feeling?" was what she assumed the chatter meant.

Rachel let herself relax more in her bed as she wiped a strand of hair from her face. She then replied, "I'm feeling better. What happened? The last thing I can clearly remember is running upstairs to, uh, get ready to go to the restaurant with you Ryan, then slamming into Jimmy. The rest is a vague blur."

Jimmy started to talk first, but Ryan cut him off. "HE gave you a sprained ankle, when he was trying to molest you. I rescued you, but then you had fainted from the emotional distress of being in that position."

"Shut up, pretty boy!" Jimmy sniped at him. "She ran into me then she fell. She must have hurt herself then. When I was trying to get her to a doctor then you came sticking your fat head down the hall, and of course that really upset her, and then she passed out!"

The guys tried to continue the argument that had obviously been going on for a while, but Rachel who was already really cranky, yelled "Boys, Shut Up!"

The doctor, who was coming into the room at the time to make the boys stop arguing (for what seemed like the millionth time that day), because there were other patients who needed their rest, gave a jump. Then he noticed that Rachel was up and as far as he could tell she was dong fine (though she wasn't really happy at the time). So he decided to give Rachel an update. "I see that you are awake, Ms. Moore. I'm sorry about the two gentlemen here. Normally we only let one visitor at a time, but in their case they argued so loudly about who would be the first to visit you that they were disturbing my other patients and their visitors." He cast a menacing glance at the two teenage boys then resumed talking. "Now four your injury, it is only a small twist. You'll have to stay off your foot for a day or two, but, if you stay completely off of it, you should be able to enjoy the second half of you vacation quite nicely. The only reason that you would've fainted was that you did have a slight concussion, but it was more likely of emotional stress. With these two around, I don't really wonder why. Now you are allowed to leave whenever you choose; just ask the nurse at the front desk for a pair of crutches." So, with the knowledge that his part of this job was done, he left.

Jimmy looked relieved at the report. "Thank goodness. Only a sprain."

"Only?!" Ryan shouted, defending Rachel. "She's missing half of her vacation because of you!"

"Yeah, and if it had been worse, then I would've felt awful. But at least she has the second half of her vacation to look forward to."

"Do you realize how much pain she's probably in right now, though?!"

Rachel had had enough. She could feel the dizziness coming back into her head, but this time it was more of a jagged pain than a day dream. So she told both of the guys to can it then said, "I think that I will be ready to leave in a few minutes. But I really need to talk to you Jimmy, so can you please leave, Ryan?"

Ryan looked flabbergasted. "But...Why? He tried to hurt you then claimed himself as your best friend."

"But," Rachel sincerely said. "Jimmy is a good friend of mine. I don't know what possessed him to tell you that he was my best friend (she shoots a sideways glare at Jimmy), but I don't believe that he would try to hurt me. Serena probably hasn't said anything about him to you because he's been gone a while. But he and I really need to talk, so, please Ryan. Leave us alone for a while."

So acting solely upon Rachel's desire, Ryan hesitantly left the hospital room. Once he was out of sight, she relaxed herself more back into the bed thinking to herself _why is my life always this complicated? To think that I'd actually thought that my problems would be put on hold when I came here. But I have to step up to do what life is calling me to do._ With that on her mind she said, "So. Long time, no see, Jimmy."

Jimmy easily detected the amount of stress that this put on Rachel. _Aw, crap! I came her to relieve her from worrying about me. To let her be at ease. To give her a good vacation. Now what do I do?! I screw it all up again. Aren't I always just the barer of good news?_ So he quickly replied, "Well, I've been thinking about you a lot Rachel. I'm still working on the extremely tough case. I still haven't solved it and it might be a while, Rach. But I remembered this trip and I just had to come, because I am getting probably my only time off that I'll ever get. I was just hoping to feel like a normal seventeen year old guy for one week without having the weight of the world on my shoulders. I've really missed spending time with you, Rach. But who is this Ryan-punk? I've never met him and he seems like a stupid nitwit to me."

It a snap Rachel switched her cap from irritated girl to Jimmy Kudo's favorite arguing competitor. "He's Serena's cousin, Jimmy. An exchange student. Great grade point average, donates money to the poor, knows exactly where he is going to college at. He is very nice and asked me on a date for this evening and I accepted. That's why I was running. To get ready for a date with him. And guess what? I bet if you ask him what he thinks about a guy who walked, talked, and thinks only detective that he would say it might be a good hobby, but they need to get a life." Rachel's eyes burned with the fury that she had felt toward Jimmy ever since he had left.

Jimmy was astounded. _Rachel? A date with that pompous jerk? His only life is probably his math and science books. Like he already has a life! But she's throwing such painful words at me. Maybe I deserved a bit of it. But...she's..._ "Great, Rach. You think that the guy needs to get a life. What if he wants it to stop running his life, but he can't. The case is dragging him like a little boy on the leash of a great dame. If the guy just stops, danger would surely come for him, and not only for him but for all of those people that he loves and cares about. The ones that he had to leave in the first place." Rachel's face burned with Jimmy's careful stare as he said this.

But it only gave Rachel another angry question. "Then why did you come back at all, Kudo, if our lives are in danger from it?!"

Jimmy's gaze directed softly towards the window, then he said, "When I'm on my case, I'm in an almost unrecognizable disguise. The chances of them looking, let alone finding me here, are slim to none. But my peculiar situation only allows me tiny breaks with one week long break for the whole period that I'm on it. This is a good far away from my case, so even if they know that I was in disguise and I took a break, they would have no clue where I am."

This time Rachel let Jimmy's words sink in. "So it's only a week, is it? That's all I think I can understand Jimmy, because obviously you can't tell me what your case is about, can you?" A nod of the head was his reply so she continued. "But if you don't return something will get blown and the ones that you love with will be in serious trouble." Another nod.

Rachel inhaled deeply while trying to decide which point (the "you are a jerk Jimmy for being gone" or the "you're so sweet for coming here, Jimmy") of view to take. Her choice was made obvious by her next statement. "Well, I guess that we will have to make the most out of the week that we can, won't we Jimmy?" Rachel said, while sitting back up and smiling sweetly. Then she noticed the blood crust just underneath of his nose. "Jimmy! You're hurt, too!"

Jimmy looked startled, but then realize that she was talking about his nose. As he lifted his fingers up to touch the blood he said, "Yeah. In trying to save you from me Ryan gave me a right hook, and you kicked me hard in the gut. I had the doctor look at me too, though, and he said no harm was really done. The most is that I'll wake up really sore in the morning."

You could tell that Jimmy was expanding like a balloon with the hope that he had once had for the week, filling him back up again. _Things might turn out well after all._

Of course the opportunity to talk kindly to each other was cut off, again by Ryan. "Rachel, I believe that I have renewed my reservation at the restaurant. I hope that we will be able to leave here in half an hourish or so of time, so we can still have a reasonable dinner time in about 1 ½ hours..." He trailed off because he finally noticed that Jimmy and Rachel had looked extremely happy, though now it looked like Ryan stuck a fork in Jimmy's balloon. "Or maybe we can forget dinner so you two can catch up some more..."

"No!" Rachel said. "I had said that I would go out with you and I will. I just need my crutches and then we can leave for the hotel, so I can get ready."

The two boys quickly fetched her crutches and finally they were off to the hotel. The hospital, Rachel had learned, was only about fifteen minutes from Ryuteki, so the threesome arrived at the hotel with a little more than an hour for Rachel and Ryan to get ready for dinner. At the hotel, Ryan wanted to help Rachel make it to the building and to her room, but Jimmy insisted otherwise. "I mean you have to get ready too, don't you?" Jimmy asked Ryan. "And a night out with Rach is nothing to be taken lightly, if you know what I mean." So Ryan headed up to his own room to get ready for the night as Jimmy led Rachel on her crutches to the main lodging building.

"What did you mean by that, Jimmy?" Rachel asked while they were waiting for the elevator. The elevator was the only one in the building and was usually crowded with people trying to get to and from their rooms, but when it reached the two, it was suprisingly empty.

"By what?" Jimmy all too innocently asked as he helped her on and pressed the button for the fourth floor. The rickety old elevator then started its ascend.

"That a date with me is not to be taken lightly. Just what were you implying by that, Kudo?"

"Oh, nothing, Rachel. Nothing at all."

Rachel didn't believe him, though. "What did you mean by what you said, Jimmy? And keep in mind that, though I'm not able to use my foot, my fist has plenty of power in it, too," she pointed out, making her voice more firm than before.

"All I meant was that he better be good enough for you." Jimmy found an amazing interest in a cobweb in one of the bottom corners of the small compartment. _Maybe she won't laugh if I can't see her._

"Jimmy..." Rachel said. _Here it comes,_ Jimmy thought. _Now she's going to burst out loud laughing at me for being so protective of her._ A moment or two of silence passed though, and nothing happened. When the elevator's door opened at their floor, Jimmy couldn't help it. He just had to see what she was doing.

But she wasn't laughing, or even trying to hold it in. Rachel was actually smiling at him. "That's really sweet Jimmy. That you would care whether or not a guy is good enough for me. It shows true character."

Jimmy smiled, again filling up with joy that him and Rachel were actually on good speaking terms. _Maybe I can...,_ he thought. The two had almost reached Rachel's room when Jimmy stopped a door before it. His room. Jimmy turned to face Rachel. "Hold on a second, Rachel. There is something that I've been wanting to give you. It's really pretty. My mom had given it to me for Christmas once, it being a family heirloom. But she doesn't realize that guys don't wear jewelry...It's...well, I don't want to spoil the surprise for you." He had been thinking of the locket that he had on the train. He'd really been hoping to give it to Rachel so that she could always have something to remember him by. _Now's the perfect opportunity,_ he thought.

Jimmy reached to open the door of his own hotel room, not really thinking of anything besides himself, Rachel, and the locket (maybe a little bit of Ryan with a black eye, but...). That's probably why he didn't even think of there being other people in his room at the time. But there was, and she gave a horrible high pitched shriek.

"JIMMY KUDO!!! HAVEN'TOTAL YOU GOT THE MANNERS TO KNOCK BEFORE YOU ENTER A ROOM?!!!" Amy's scream filled the building as she wildly reached for anything to cover her naked flesh, just exiting the shower at the time.

strawbeby - Wellll.....you've been naughty so here's your lump of coal! Muahahaha! Don't worry lots though because I have a 3 day weekend coming up so thanksgiving is going to be celebrated as well! Can you believe that I actually typed most of this in one night? Granted I made a lot of mistakes and had to go back over it the next day, and it was an at least 6 hr night, but I still did it. O.k. I don't own hospital sheets, Jimmy's blood, lockets, corn dogs, or balloons (to think there are some people who actually know what I'm talking about : P ). And a funny little thing to tag onto all of the violence that happened in this chapter. When I first started writing the story I had gotten to a little after this point and I decided that it was time that I named my story. Besides What the Tide Brings In, I also considered The Sand Slipping Through His Fingers; A Twist of Fate; and Chaotic Winds. And as a joke my bff, Sakinu, and I threw another title into the mixture. "Ryan must die..." we both loved the title, but I really didn't know if I wanted to kill him in the end... Oh Well. I thought you might enjoy the other title's name, especially since the only thing that Ryan was doing this chapter was be stupid. Another thing- I have no clue how long twisted ankles really take to heal. I'm just saying 2 days for my creative purposes. Do I really have to go through my usual "review and criticize" routine? Because it's getting a bit dull...you already know the drill!


	7. Rachel's Version of Jeopardy

**Last Time:** "JIMMY KUDO!!! HAVEN'T YOU GOT THE MANNERS TO KNOCK BEFORE YOU ENTER A ROOM?!!!" Amy's scream filled the building as she wildly reached for anything to cover her naked flesh, just exiting the shower at the time.

Strawbeby- Yay, oh yay! I've finally finished this chapter. I'd like to thank JimmyKudo84 for finally convincing me to get off my butt and finish the thing. She actually wrote me an email at my address to ask me when I'd be updating. I'm sorry for you who actually wait for an update. I had figured a gob of you just read the fan fics you really like and then was like "Oh, 'What the Tide Brings in' has been updated. I'm really bored so I'll just read this."

You know who chan - no I'm sorry I won't be introducing any other characters from the manga into my story. I really don't like writing about things unless I really know about them. I'd be too afraid to mess their personalities up. Yes Hattori-niichan (Harley Hartwell, he is known as here) has been introduced over here in the U.S. but only in the most recent episode that has been shown on Cartoon Network. Plus I'm sorry to also report that those nitwits canceled Detective Conan, so that's about as far as I can go unless I want to fork over some major cash.

What the Tide Brings In Chapter 7 – Rachel's Version of Jeopardy

By strawbeby

Jimmy slammed his room's door shut as he heard Amy yelling at him through it. _Oh, no! I forgot about those three. I mean, I didn't really forget, I just wasn't thinking. Oh, no, this isn't going to be pretty with Rachel._ He slowly turned around to see Rachel looking like she had smoke coming out of her ears.

"Jimmy," she addressed him with a tight, firm voice. "Who….was that?"

Jimmy forced himself to smile a little bit, to try and make it look like what it was, a funny coincidence. "Well, you see, Rach…Um, I kind of forgot to, um, mention to you that I, uh, have a few friends staying with me for the week." _Man, can she ever make a guy squirm under his skin…_

With the same harsh tone of voice, Rachel said, "Let me guess. They are all big bosomed females, aren't they?"

"Actually, no, uh, there are two other guys also, uh, staying with me."

As if on cue Mitch and George came bounding up the stairs, responding to Amy's scream. They had been down in the arcade at the time, letting Amy be a girl and "freshen up" in peace. So they decided to explore what all the hotel had to offer, but they only got as far as the arcade. At the moment George was trying to convince one or two of Jimmy's "fellow classmates" to let him finish their game for them (in other words he was threatening to pound their face into the ground if they didn't let him and Mitch was holding him back). But, fortunately, Amy's scream sounds the same no matter what age, so they recognized it immediately, but they couldn't make out different words through the muffled ceiling. So they thought that they were going to beat up any punk who was trying to harm her. Or George pounding their faces in while Mitch urged him on.

Jimmy instantly relaxed, now that he saw the two guys who would help vouch for him to Rachel. But George didn't put two and two together to come up with the logical reasoning that Jimmy opened the door. He still thought that Amy had been in trouble. "Hey Co- I mean, uh, hey Jimmy! What happened?!" he fumbled over his words.

This instantly gave Rachel some more ammo. "Why did that guy just call you Co?!"

Fortunately his detective skills provided Jimmy with an ability to make a covering up story. "Because he is one of the guys that is staying with me. The other one, besides Ariel, is the one right next to him. He was going to call me by the nickname that they had given to me, Conehead. When they first met me they thought that I was too smart for my own good, and they were watching that movie. Somehow they don't call me by my own name, despite the fact that I ask them to. I had threatened them with an overlooming secret, though, to only call me Jimmy here." Jimmy put the cherry on top of his lie by awarding Rachel a convincing smile.

By this time the two boys had arrived to where Jimmy and Rachel were standing so Jimmy turned to include them into his and Rachel's conversation. "Don't worry Greg (glare that clearly meant to remember the fake names or perish). I just accidentally opened our door without knocking and Ariel had just came out of the shower. She's fine, guys. And I'd like you to meet my friend, Rachel." Introductions were exchanged and George and Mitch discovered that the Rachel that is the same age as you is different from the one who is older and in charge. Less babysitter and more babe.

But Rachel was barely been interested in the two boys before her. What her mind was focused on was the naked girl inside Jimmy's room. What's-her-name, Ariel. She was about to open her mouth to ask why there was a girl staying with the three boys, all of whom she was somehow positive were all hormone driven, when Ariel came out of the room. She somehow looked drop dead gorgeous, despite the fact that she was standing there with dripping wet hair, a tacky flower printed pair of shorts, and a periwinkle blue tank top.

"Hey, Ariel," Jimmy said to the girl. "I'm sorry about that. I, just, uh, needed something from in there, and I accidentally forgot to knock." A slight blush creeped up on his cheeks as he recalled the incident, and in his usual move his arm shot up to absentmindedly ruffle his hair. That wasn't the only thing being ruffled though, as Rachel angrily wished that he wouldn't act that way toward Ariel. Or any girl for that matter. Rachel should've known better, though, when a girl as beautiful as the teenage Amy was involved.

Amy shone a gloss of pearly white teeth as she smiled and replied, "Oh, it's okay. Just don't forget to knock, next time. I hate being exposed like that." _That's not right._ Rachel thought. _She's asking like he put a rubber snake in her hamper, instead of seeing her naked. Is she really that fine with people seeing her like that? Boy, if she is that way all of the time, no wonder she's staying with a bunch of guys. She's probably so loose that she doesn't even think about who might fall victim._

Amy saw that Rachel had been added to their little group from before, so she said, "Oh, hey, Rachel. Isn't this place neat?"

The "confused" face instantly popped on Rachel as she said, "Um, have we met before?"

Jimmy dropped embarrassment of seeing teenage Amy full blown naked as he made yet another miraculous cover up. "Um, I guess that I talk about you so much, Rach, that Ariel feels like she knows you. But (Evil glare going Amy's way this time) I don't think that you two have met before. So let me introduce you. Yeah, uh, Ariel you were correct and this is Rachel. And, Rachel, this is Ariel Young. Yeah, she's staying with us this week, because you know how quickly these rooms are booked, and we could only get one room (actually Jimmy didn't want to anger good ol' dad any more that he had to with emergency credit card expenses)." _Kudo scores, once again, in the quick cover up department! And the crowd goes wild!_ Jimmy thought proudly.

Rachel's face dropped in a humbled state and she mumbled, "Oh." But it didn't stay that way as Rachel's version of 21 questions continued. "And you know each other, how?"

Fortunately, Jimmy had to do no more quick thinking to this one, thanks to actually thinking ahead, and using a part of the train trip to be productive. "You know the case that I'm working on? Yeah, uh, their great aunt Sylvia is the one who hired me to it in the first place. Then I got tangled all up in that stupid, murmble mumblin' mess of a case. These three had then refused to leave my side and have actually proved to be useful now and then, despite my constant reminders of how much danger we are putting ourselves in. When I learned about my only break and decided to use it here, I was so excited about the prospect of being here that I just babbled on about it. These three have also had been home schooled all of their life, though, so I made it sound so exciting that they wanted to tag along. Believe me, Rachel. I told them no way, but they chose to become stowaways when I left, and now I am stuck with them for the week." _Big breath. Long explanation paragraph is over._

"That's nice, Jimmy," Rachel sarcastically said. "You are 'stuck' with them. Sounds like really close friends especially since you can say that when they are standing right next to you."

_Ugh,_ Jimmy thought. _I am stuck with them, but Rachel doesn't understand that it's more babysitting than hanging out with them. I guess I've gotta change my attitude towards them._

Before he could act out his thoughts and apologize though, Amy spoke. "Yeah, Jimmy. I forgave you for walking in on me naked. When I wanted to go back you just said that I couldn't until we were through with this. And you think I like being here? I had no idea that I'd be squished in a room with three smelly boys, who are all thrilled about being here, when I'm just trying to get used to this. Then, you run off, and I think 'finally some me time' and I take a shower. Only to come out to an open door. And, do you think it's as easy for me to get used to this as it is you? No way, Jose! And you three keep looking at me like I'm a freak of nature. They're just boobs and you knew that I'd get them some day, so keep your BULGING EYES TO YOURSELVES! AND NOW YOU ALL ARE TREATING ME LIKE I'M CHOPPED LIVER!" Amy, furious and breathless, was almost about to break down in tears.

_Poor girl_, Rachel thought._ She doesn't even want to be here. Jimmy doesn't even want her here. Maybe I can make this better for all of us..._

Mitch tried to get Amy to calm down. "Ariel, we don't treat you like chopped liver, it's weird seeing you this uncomfortable, and my eyes are not bulging!" I guess he forgot that he isn't the best person to try and get some one to settle down. Especially if it's Amy and she's freaking out about bodily growths. So instead of a "Thank you, Michael for that wonderful explanation," which is what he expected, he got was an evil glare from everyone, except George who is always about two steps behind everyone else and was completely clueless. I mean it had just registered in his mind that Amy was pretty upset about her rooming situation.

Anyway, Amy muttered, "Shut up, Mitch."

Jimmy almost started to freak out about using the made up names. Fortunately Rachel overlooked it (she thought Amy had really said Mick, and Mick is a nickname of Michael, right?), and she said, "It's okay, Ariel. I understand how hard it would be on a girl to live with three guys, let alone three guys. Have you ever even spent the night with another girl, after always being stuck with Michael and Greg and Jimmy?" _She seems innocent enough. If she takes the bait I could make this right without seeming like a jerk myself._ Rachel thought to herself.

Amy lifted tear filled eyes to shake her head. "I've never had a real friend who is a girl before."

Rachel smiled kindly at the timid looking girl that stood in front of her. "Well how would you like to stay with me for the week? I have an extra bed, because my best friend Serena was going to be staying with me, but she is staying in the suite that her dad got for her and her cousin. We could even make it a party by renting a few movies, gorging on pop and candy, and talking." The three that had been changed into teenagers couldn't see it, but Jimmy noticed a twinkle in her eye as she casually mentioned the last one. And to him, it meant no good. _A.k.a. a free for all Jimmy bashing. Great. Just great._

Amy looked as if Rachel just told her that she had won a million dollars. _A real slumber party?! No guys?! Just someone who actually understands me? Okay she can't know about the Jimmy really being Conan/me, Mitch, and George really being seven thing. But still…_ "I'd love that Rachel. When can I move in?!"

Rachel grinned. Her plan went perfect. _Hook, line, and sinker. Now I won't actually have to think about if something is going on next door that shouldn't be. And I can find out what Jimmy is really doing when he's on that stupid case._

"Um, wait a second…" Jimmy said. "Uh, she can't do that. Move from this room I mean. Yeah, uh, I told her aunt that she'd be in this room. And, uh, her aunt would get… upset?" Even Jimmy could see the weakness of this lame excuse.

"Don't worry, Kudo," Rachel said. "You can just give the aunt my number. And I think that she would me more reassured if Ariel was in a room that housed a female, not three males." A cocky I-won-now-you-jerky-Jimmy smile, then Rachel returned her attention to Amy. "You can move in now, if you'd like. I'll help you get settled." Rachel swung her crutches through the threshold that Amy had left open to get Amy's things. "Now which is your bags?"

The rest of them filed into the room and retrieved all that was Amy's. Jimmy wanted so badly to intervene and shout out "Rachel, Ariel can't stay with you because she just can't!" but he knew that it would do him no use. He knew Rachel's "This is what it's going to be. So live with it or else," face and he wasn't about to get on the wrong side of it, even if she did have a sprained ankle. So they all lugged Amy's load one room over to Rachel's room.

As the last bag hit the floor they heard a voice come through the hallway. "Rachel! Are you ready to leave?" At one end of the hall stood Ryan Sebastian, looking very handsome in a pair of khaki pants and a scarlet button up collared shirt. "You were supposed to be downstairs five minutes ago. What happened?"

Rachel's eyes bugged out, "Oh, no!" she shouted. "I'm so sorry Ryan! I got kind of side tracked and I forgot!"

Ryan rolled his eyes and turned into the door frame that led into Rachel's room. "We have gotta go, Rachel. Or have you decided not to...?" His face fell at the thought of losing the date.

Rachel shook her head at the guy. "No I still want to go. I just…," she looked down at her clothes. She had on the clothes that she had traveled in, a jean skirt, a pair of her nicer tennis shoes, and a sunflower yellow sleeveless cotton top. _It might be pretty casual , but it might pass for a little bit dress up._ "I just need to run a brush through my hair. One minute tops. Plus give Ariel a set of room keys. She's going to be my roommate for the week." She smiled then nodded her head in Amy's direction, while Amy gave a shy smile to the new cute occupant of the company.

Rachel swung herself over to her travel duffel bag, dug around for a moment, the pulled out a black hairbrush. She sat on the chair that was next to the bed closest to the door as she started to brush it, oblivious that everyone in the room was watching her. Rachel finished, looked at her reflection in the mirror on the bureau that was at the foot of the bed, then pronounced herself as ready. She then opened a drawer that was on the nightstand beside the bed, and pulled out a pair of keys. Rachel tossed them over to Amy and said, "Here. These are the keys to the room. The silver one is for the door. The gold one is for the fridge," Rachel looked at the small black refrigerator that stood in the far corner of the room. "I would recommend not using that one unless your aunt is loaded with cash and ready to pay my dad back for the bill. And even if you are I wouldn't because then my dad would insist that you pay for the room as well."

Then with a smile at everyone else in the room, "I should be back in a few hours. You can use whatever closet and drawer space that you can find to unpack, Ariel. I'll see you all later." She started to swing herself towards the door then called to her date to come on, and with that, Rachel was gone.

The room became as still and quiet as a church. It was only broken when Amy tried to usher the rest of them out. "Come on, guys. A girl has got to have her own room. I need to unpack, set up my things, and take a nap from being so exhausted from the trip. I can't do it with you all hanging around in my room. So leave."

Amy had succeeded in pushing George and Mitch outside of the room, and Jimmy was almost out the door until he turned around. "Amy I still don't think it's a good idea for you to stay here. I mean what if you slip up, and Rachel finds out. It's enough of a hazard just you knowing. I don't want her to get involved."

Amy was getting irritated about that whole thing. "What is she, glass? She'll find out sooner or later. I mean, how would she have taken it if Conan had gotten kidnapped, and you never came back. Double whammy there. That, and don't you trust me? I mean you drug me here instead of shoving me into a dark, icky basement. So you already showed trust in me. So just deal with me having to stay with your girl friend."

"She's not my girlfriend. And no I don't really think that I should trust a 7 year old with a secret that if she doesn't keep, it could kill lot of people."

"Fine, whatever. It's not like you have a choice now, Conan. She's invited, I've moved in and that is that. If I move back over she'll know that something is up. And not just the sky, either." Amy's face showed full confidence as she watched Jimmy realize that what she said was true. Not just confidence, either. A full blown gloating.

Jimmy threw his hands up into the air in disgust. "Fine, whatever! Stay here! You want to tell Rachel that I've been living with her for the past six months?! Okay! You want terrorists to sweep down and kill me before your very eyes?! Be my guest! Just make sure they do it in my sleep so I don't feel a thing!" He turn from Amy and slammed the door shut behind him as he left the room.

In the hallway he was faced with Mitch and George. Who both were giving him very confused looks.

"What?!" Jimmy bellowed. "Have you never seen a guy getting frustrated before?!"

The two looked at each other. Then George gave a nod and Mitch started to speak for both of them. "Um, Jimmy, we've just never seen you blow up at a girl like that. It's not cool."

Jimmy getting fed up with, in his mind, these 7 year olds were telling him. I mean isn't he older and wiser and better looking. They are not supposed to be better than him! But Jimmy decided to try and keep his temper down and settled with a good eye rolling. Then he said "Whatever. I need to go somewhere. Maybe soak in the hot tub."

"You can soak in the hot tub without an adult?!" Mitch eagerly asked.

"Of course," Jimmy replied in a sort of "Duh!" voice. "I _am_ 17."

"Cool!" George said. "Can we come, too?"

Jimmy thought for a moment. "Sure, why not. Then I can teach you two what being a seventeen year old is really about, since you obviously don't know."

"Sweet!" Mitch and George replied at the same time. Then the three of them entered the room next door to tear apart their suitcases to find their swim trunks.

stbb – Just one note. I think that I have been having the girls scream a lot and then the guys stupidly come running to try and save them. That is the theme of the day, I think. That and having you all thinking over and over "can Ryan get any more stupid?" : ) tee hee. Oh, and I don't own Jeopardy. So cross your fingers that I post another chapter quickly and encourage me by reviewing and telling me how awesome this story is. Just kidding.


	8. At The Restaurant

Strawbeby – IT'S A MIRACLE! I ACTUALLY WANTED TO WORK ON MY FANFICTION AND FINISHED ANOTHER CHAPTER. Please read. XP

What the Tide Brings In Chapter 8 – At The Restaurant

By strawbeby

Rachel widely yawned as the waiter sat down a hot fudge sundae that had vanilla ice cream, deliciously rich hot fudge, fluffy whipped cream, a sprinkle of nuts, a fudge brownie wedged in between two scoops of ice cream, and a perfectly red cherry on top. She was quite full already. Ryan had been a perfect gentleman and had let her order whatever she wanted. So she had gotten a grilled lemon pepper chicken filet with mushrooms in sauce on the side of that plate and a tossed garden salad, with an iced tea to drink. Ryan on the other hand had opted for the manly sounding T-bone 3 lb. steak, two large baked potatoes covered with the works of melted cheese, bacon bits, butter, sour cream, and chives, and had gotten a drink of root beer. Plus he had ordered a large appetizer for the both of them of French bread with the restaurant's special spread. So even though chocolate was one of her favorite foods in the world, she groaned inwardly at the thought of having to finish that sundae. It was Ryan's "special treat" for her, because he had to pay the restaurant an extra ¥150 to get one of their special brownies into the dish.

She started to dig in with a slow spoon, though, so he didn't think that anything was the matter.

"Isn't this restaurant wonderful?" Ryan asked his date.

Rachel thought about it for a moment. The décor wasn't too shabby. The way that they had the tables set up it made every table seem like it was in its own little place, with wall's every where and having to crane your neck just to see any of your fellow dining partners. Also with strategically placed vines and greenery everywhere it made the place almost seem out doors, in an extravagant garden of Paris, instead of inside of a restaurant that was located in a beach town in northern Japan.

"Yeah, it's very pretty. I'm surprised I've never heard of it, let alone been here before." Rachel replied to her dinner partner.

"Oh, I wasn't talking about its appearance. Though, it does give of a certain romantic essence, doesn't it. No, I was meaning the service. Isn't it exquisite?"

Rachel had no idea what he was talking about, the service. Yeah, the restaurant did have good food and the servers had nice manners, but she'd seen that before when her dad felt like taking her out to eat at a cheap restaurant. Most of the fancier places would have thrown him out for getting "over friendly" with the waitresses (How embarrassing!). She had just thought that this was the way they were supposed to act.

But if he thought it was good then maybe she should just go along with him. "Um, yeah. They are very polite." Then Rachel continued to consume her sundae.

Ryan looked at her weirdly for a moment then gave a small soft chuckle to himself. "You don't really understand do you?"

"Um, no," Rachel admitted. "I have not a clue about restaurants that are, like, four stars, or something like that. When I was growing up, my dad never had gobs of money for luxuries like that. My mom moved out, and I was just left with my dad, who was a private investigator, and they don't make the most money if they aren't really good."

You could've dropped a bomb on the restaurant and the face that Ryan had on would not have been more astounded. "You aren't rich? I thought you were."

Rachel replied with an irked voice. "No. Why would you even think that?"

"Well, I guess it's because you are best friends with Serena. I, mean, I would've thought that she'd hate anyone whose family wasn't wealthy."

Rachel was getting fed up. "Well some people might be that way, but Serena is more into friends who like her for her, not just because she has a lot of money. She isn't that self centered." Evil eye going straight Ryan's way.

"Wait! What? I'm self centered?! You are the one who had to say good bye to your ex boyfriend before you could come on this date! I was patient enough after he was trying to KIDNAP you!"

"KIDNAP?! Jimmy was trying to help me! I was the one who was running blindly because of my happiness about this date with you! Now I'm kind of wishing that I could take that back."

Now Ryan was just flabbergasted "Well fine! Run back to your ex boyfriend! The way I hear it all he ever does it DITCH you!" He raised from his chair to leave. "Good riddance, I say! No wonder he ditches you! You are so arguetive!" Ryan rounded the corner to leave the restaurant.

"Well, good riddance to you too! And for your information Jimmy didn't ditch me! He left for his really important job! And he was NEVER MY BOYFRIEND!!!" But Rachel's rants were useless. Ryan had already left. She reached behind her chair and produced her crutches to go after him so she could yell at him so more.

Rachel was about to swing herself out of her chair when a waiter stepped right in her way. "Um, excuse me," Rachel said. "But we were just in the middle of a very hot argument and I would love it very much for you to MOVE!" She balanced herself on her good foot and swung the crutches to the side of the waiter, but he just got in her way again.

"I'm sorry, miss, but I cannot allow you to leave," he said.

Now Rachel was really confused, along with being mad. "Well, why not?!"

"Because the host has informed me that neither of you have paid the check yet."

Rachel thought that she hadn't heard right. "What? I thought he paid already. That and he invited me. So why are you hitting me for the money?"

"Master Sebastian had never mentioned paying the check, and he has already bolted out of the doors of the restaurant. So I insist that you pay the check, miss."

_Snotty, old priss._ So Rachel grudgingly reached into her pocket to get her wallet. But instead of the leather bound billfold of hers what she felt was the bottom of her jean skirt pocket. Rachel was shocked. _Could Ryan have stolen my wallet? No he's too rich and snooty XP. But then where is it? I always carry it…_ Then as she looked at her crutches it dawned on her. _I had forgotten it when I was in the sushi bar with Serena this afternoon! I haven't had time to think about it since, what with me spraining my ankle and all._

She looked back up at the waiter with an uncertain smile and batting eyelashes. "Um, sir. I seem to have misplaced my money. So I'm kind of broke at the moment. If you'll allow I can run to my room at the Lily Pad and get it no problem. Right?" A more confident smile was given to the waiter.

"No, miss. If you don't have the money here, I will not allow you to use some cockamamie story so that you won't ever have to pay."

Rachel raised her voice in protest. "But I swear! I have the money!"

The waiter had a cocky smile. "Really? You have ¥ 10,000?"

Rachel's jaw hit the floor. " ¥ 10,000?! You can't be serious?!"

"Oh, I most certainly am, miss."

"I need to speak to your manager! I don't know how I could honestly ever come up with the money!"

"Miss, you are speaking to the manager. And I have a way, but you mustn't mind getting your hands soapy and working hard all night."

Rachel thought for a moment. "I'm assuming you want me to do dishes right? But I can't do that with my twisted ankle! Unless I can just stand there and scrub. But I'm assuming that you want me to do lots of them right?"

The waiter nodded. "I understand you handicap. This is why, for you, I will allow you to call in a couple of your little friends who might be willing to help you."

She sat back down. _I hate to admit it but he's right. I couldn't do it alone. But who would I call? It was Serena's cousin who bailed on me, so I can't ask her. The only one that would be willing to help me is…_

"I guess I don't have a choice, do I?"

The waiter grinned and shook his head.

Back at the Lily Pad, Jimmy was soaking and living it up in the whirlpool while telling Mitch and George all about being a teenage boy.

"First thing is that girls are the main priority. Never embarrass yourself in front of the girl you like or do something stupid. Or else she'll think you are a jerk or really dense."

George and Mitch nodded their heads as if they were Buddhist priests listening to Muhammad himself.

"Secondly, just because we are given a lot of privileges doesn't mean they don't still treat us like kids."

"But we are kids." George said.

Jimmy shook his head. "No, George, WE are not. We are practically adults and want to be treated like them. Even if we still act like a kid sometimes. But who doesn't. I certainly did. Of course, I looked like a 7 year old at the time, too, so that might count as something…"

Jimmy looked back out taking himself out of his mutterings. "Thirdly, women are always confusing. ALWAYS."

He leaned back into the jet nearest to him and let the quick rush of water become a massage. He was becoming more and more tense lately. Jimmy laid in that position for a minute or too, getting really comfortable there. But when he realized that all he heard was silence from the two mature looking seven year olds he looked up.

They were sitting there looking just as confused as Jimmy had told them women were. "What's the matter?" Jimmy asked.

George and Mitch looked at each other. Then, like usual, Mitch spoke for both of them. "What do you mean, women are confusing, Jimmy?"

Jimmy sat up from his nice little water jet to answer them. "Just that, guys. You never know what they are thinking. Take Rachel for example. I thought she'd be really happy to see me after six months. When she regained her consciousness she bit my head off for not showing up for six months."

"Woah!" They replied simultaneously.

"Yep. Women equal confused men. I think that it is an ancient law somewhere."

Buddhist monk face again. These guys were eating out of the palms of Jimmy's hands. Jimmy could've stayed there for the rest of the night, too, he was enjoying having these guys worship his every word so much. But at that moment a member of a hotel staff called over an intercom.

"Um," called out the teenage boy whose voice was a bit squeaky because he had just hit puberty. "Jimmy Kudo, please go to your hotel room. You have a young lady waiting on your phone line. I repeat, Jimmy Kudo, please go to your hotel room. You have a young lady waiting for you on your phone line."

The three boys jumped at having one of their names said over the intercom. Then Mitch and George looked over at Jimmy and said. "Ooohhh! A young lady! It's gotta be Rachel to make you confused! You get her, Jimmy!" At least that is what Jimmy thought they said (It was hard to tell when they were trying to speak at the same time.)

Anyways, Jimmy slowly rose out of the relaxing whirlpool, not even wanting to think about what Rachel wanted (he knew that it was Rachel because Rachel would be the only one who would ever call him). Knowing Rachel it could be something really heinous, like rubbing it in his face that she was on a date while he was stuck at the hotel. Well, whatever it was he had to answer the phone, he thought as he wrapped a towel around his shoulders and headed up stairs to his room. If he didn't the outcomes would be much worse later.

Inside of his room, Jimmy answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello, Jimmy? It's me, Rachel."

Jimmy sighed. "I figured. So what do you need to tell me?"

"Tell you? I don't understand."

"You are on a date. You called to rub it in my face. Remember?"

"Am I really that bad of a person, Jimmy Kudo?"

"Not really. But why else would you keep Mr. Perfect waiting?"

"Because he's not waiting."

"What? Do you mean that he's trying to grab the phone out of your hand as you are speaking to me?"

"No, Jimmy. I guess that 'Mr. Perfect' turns into 'Mr. Gold-digger'. He just picked the wrong girl to try and mooch money off of. That creep."

Jimmy was dumbfounded. "He was only a stupid freeloader?! Jeez! What a jerk! So he took off?"

Rachel waited a moment before admitting, "Yes. And he not only left me stranded but he forgot to pay the check. I would pay but Jimmy…it's really expensive. I'm not expecting you to give me money, though. I just need a little help paying the restaurant back in labor."

Jimmy sighed. Then he replied, "What's the restaurant's address?"

When Jimmy arrived at the restaurant about 20 min later, the manager had already put Rachel to work. The manager said if both of them work hard to pay off the bill for the rest of the night. Rachel at the time had been set to washing the dishes then handing them to the dish drier, Enrique. Enrique had come from Mexico very recently looking for work in tourist Japan when the restaurant had hired him, and had not had a keen grasp of the language yet. Needless to say Rachel could remember only one Spanish word, qué which meant what.

When Jimmy came into the kitchen to relieve Enrique of that particular job, Rachel was trying to ask him how long he'd been in the country while she scrubbed the white china dishes. She'd begin by saying qué, then scrub some food off a dish, then she'd point to a clock, then she'd scrub the dish some more, then she'd finish by yelling "Country!" as if she thought if it were louder then he'd understand better. Then Enrique would reply by answering a long line of Spanish words that, even though she didn't know it, translated to something like it is 9:30 in this country. Then he would quickly rinse the dish that she had just cleaned, then towel dry and add to the stack that had been started.

When the two dishwashers saw Jimmy they both were relieved, one for getting someone that spoke the same language, and the other for finally getting away from the crazy girl on crutches and getting to go home.

"Hey, need some help?" Jimmy asked as he stepped next to the sink and took up the white, fluffy towel that Enrique had been using.

"Yes!" Rachel replied gratefully. "Thank you so much Jimmy for coming. I know that it is my fault for dating a nutter who bails on girls, anyway, but if it will make you feel any better about coming to help me then you can just dish on me all you want." As she said this she used the filthy dish cloth to wipe the next dish in the enourmous pile beside her.

"It's not really any problem," Jimmy replied, as he took the dish that she had just cleaned and rinsed it and dried it like he had just seen Enrique do. "I mean you are one of my closest friends, even though you did kick me in the gut, sick some pretty boy on me, yell at me in front of pretty boy, then go on a date with pretty boy." He placed the dish on top of all of the nice, white, clean dishes.

"Oh, Jimmy," Rachel said as she scrubbed the food off of her next plate. "I really didn't know that I was being that awful to you. All I knew is that I was kind of ticked for being so, pardon the pun, but knocked off my feet."

"Well," Jimmy said as he took the clean dish from Rachel and dunked it in the rinse water, then wiped it with the towel. "You'll need to make up for it. I mean, since I came here to help you and all, you really owe me now."

Rachel gave him the next dish that she had cleaned while he was talking. "I know I owe you. One can only hope I'll be able to repay you." She laughed as she grabbed yet another dirty dish.

"Who knows?" Jimmy said. "Maybe I can think of a really heinous way for you to return the favor. Like never talking to 'Mr. Perfect' ever again."

"Oh please don't ever call him that again!" Rachel said as she placed a dish into Jimmy's rinse water. "He's like the opposite of perfect now. More of a 'Mr. Wrong' than a 'Mr. Right'."

"Well that's a relief. Because if he was 'Mr. Right' we'd be stuck in here so often people would think that we work here. Then I would reply," and he picked up his towel and held it in front of his mouth like a microphone, " 'No I only come here for the pruned hands, and she only comes here for the pruned heads!' "

Rachel laughed. "No you mean the pruned heads only come here for me!" she said as she elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hey!" Jimmy shouted. "I resent that. I'm not that old looking yet. Your dad on the other hand…"

"What? Are you calling my father a prune head, Kudo?"

"No, I'm just remarking that I don't think many of his genes were passed to his daughter."

"Jimmy! Stop it!" Rachel started to pick up the pace in washing the dishes.

Jimmy on the other hand stopped together entirely. "What? Are you afraid that the forks and spoons are going to get jealous?"

"Jimmy. We need to keep working. Or else we'll be here past midnight."

"All right, Rachel. We really do need to be more professional." Jimmy continued to work, but he had aristocratically pushed his nose into the air so he would look like a slob.

Rachel then dropped a dish into the rinse water and it gave a little splash as it landed. A little splash, but enough to send a slight spray of water onto Jimmy's shirt.

Jimmy dropped the snobby act. "Hey!"

She gave him the most innocent look she could put on her face and batted her eyelashes a couple of times. "Who? Me?"

He gave her a spry smile. "No! Not you! Never you!" Then as he reached into the water he made sure a little wave came up to splash Rachel a bit, too.

"Why, Jimmy Kudo! Did you just splash me?"

"Had you splashed me?"

Rachel pretended to think about it for a moment. "I don't really remember. I think that it has to be reenacted for me to remember." She proceeded to flip some water with her hand onto his shirt. "Um, I might have." She then laughed at the dots of water on his shirt.

Jimmy got a gleam in his eye. "Well I guess it's just the place then, because I don't seem to remember if _I_ splashed water on _you_." He then used one of the plates that were in the bottom of the rinse sink to push water her way.

Now, that just started a full on water fight. This way and that, water flew everywhere and in all directions. Jimmy had the advantage of 2 working pairs of legs, but Rachel soon realized that she had the spray nozzle to the sink in her possession. After about a minute they were both soaked head to toe, and showing no signs of stopping. At the moment they were just kids fooling around with water in one of their own kitchens. Until the manager came in.

And of course HE was furious. "You two are here to work to pay back the restaurant what you owe it, not diddle dawdle in whatever you want to do! Now get back to work, and you better have cleaned up this mess by the time you have left!" And with that he proceeded to the employee's lounge to have a long smoke, for the restaurant was already closed, and the only employees left besides them was a few bus boys hoping to earn a raise by cleaning up the dining area.

When he had slammed the door, Rachel had lost balance on her one foot, and since she had been trying to spin around to spray Jimmy, her crutches were at odd angles. Down she fell, and if she had hit the floor she was almost positive that she would have injured her ankle worse, maybe even have broken it.

But in midair a pair of strong arms seized her around her shoulders and hoisted her back up. Jimmy brought her back into an upright position so that she could grasp the sink for balance while he bent down to get her crutches.

"Thanks," Rachel mumbled as he handed the crutches to her.

"You're welcome," Jimmy replied as he helped get them situated under her arms.

She looked up and realized that her eyes were soon locked with Jimmy's. They stood there for a moment in anxiousness silence.

It was Jimmy who broke the silence. "Um, we've got some dishes that need to be washed."

Rachel turned away from him to the sink. "Oh yeah. We really don't want to be here until midnight, do we?"

"No, I guess not," he replied.

And so the next hour and a half they steadily worked on cleaning what seemed like every piece of porcelain that exists in Japan. Every now and then one of them would say something but the conversation just died of to go back into the silence that somehow consumed both of them.

It was a little past 11 by the time they got back to the hotel. Like before Jimmy escorted Rachel to her room, after a taxi ride of the same quietness.

At Rachel's door, Jimmy said good night. "I'll see you in the morning, Rach. And maybe we could use part of the day tomorrow to catch up with each other."

"But," Rachel said. "What about Ariel, and Michael, and Greg? I mean the did come with you didn't they? Wouldn't it be nice to show them around?"

Jimmy paused for a moment. "Yeah, that's a nice idea. We could spend part of the day with them." Then he proceeded to open the door for Rachel, so she could go into her room and sleep the rest of the night away.

Strawbeby – Isn't Ryan such a jerk? Can you believe that I finished this chapter this soon? I guess that I was motivated from finally finishing last chapter that I wanted to do this chapter too. Yeah. Oh and if you haven't read any of my other stories, I'd really recommend them. One of my favorite is called "The Ducks". It is hilarious! toots her own horn So tell me what you thought of this chapter, please.


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